Orion: The Beginning
by Doinstuffman
Summary: Set several years prior to "La Voix de la Lune," this is the story of Kahlee's first days as a Guardian, and how she came to be a member of Fireteam Orion. Original characters based on the authors own in-game Guardians.
1. Title and Dramatis Personae

**A/N: Hey guys! No time to relax, because I'm back at it. With "La Voix de la Lune" all wrapped up, I kind of want to give a bit more insight into the characters I've created, and show how they came together. This new story is going to begin with all the focus on Kahlee and Val, and how Kahlee became a Guardian, but it will incorporate all three of my Guardians and their Ghosts in due time. So for now, I will leave you with the character list, and I will upload the first chapter in the next few days. Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy what is to come!-Doinstuff**

 **Destiny**

 **Orion: The Beginning**

Kahlee, Awoken Female Warlock (voice/personality of Kahlee Sanders [Mass Effect 3]

Bill, Human Male Titan Defender (voice/personality of Desmond Miles [Assassin's Creed])

Dak-12, Exo Male Hunter Gunslinger (voice/personality of Tony Stark [Marvel Cinematic Universe])

Ghosts

Cee, Bill's Ghost (voice/personality of Pvt. Leonard Church/Epsilon [Red vs. Blue])

Vera, Dak's Ghost (voice/personality of Samantha Traynor [Mass Effect 3])

Val, Kahlee's Ghost (voice/personality of Garrus Vakarian [Mass Effect])

The Vanguard

Commander Zavala, Titan Vanguard

Cayde-6, Hunter Vanguard

Ikora Rey, Warlock Vanguard

The Sisters

Xanthe, Awoken Female Hunter Bladedancer

Xeres, Awoken Female Hunter Gunslinger


	2. A Guardian Is Born

**1: A Guardian Is Born**

A blinding light shone in her eyes, and she instinctively raised a hand to shield them. But when she realized her hand was in a glove, she let out a surprised gasp. The light eased up, and she saw a small, floating orb. Several pyramid-shaped pieces orbited this center piece, and a blue glow emanated from all around it.

"Guardian? Guardian? Can you hear me? Wake up!" The little orb said as the pyramids closed in to form a shell. She put her hand up to her head, but it was met by a helmet. She looked around, too afraid to stand up. She was in a building, though it seemed to be more of a shack than anything else. The roof was caved in, and she could see the Moon and stars through the hole. The vibrant blue robot fluttered around her, a soft blue cone of light running over her body, which she noticed was covered in armor much different from before.

 _Before I died?_ She thought to herself. _How is this…_

"Okay, seriously, I need you to stand up now, Guardian. Your vitals check out, your legs are fine." The little bot spun its back shell.

"What… are you?" She asked as she tried to stand, her arms nearly buckling under her own weight.

"I'm a Ghost. I'm _your_ Ghost, to be specific." The "eye" in the center blinked a few times. "Now, come on, Guardian, we have to get moving."

"Why do you keep calling me that?" She finally made it to her feet, and took her first uneasy steps.

"Well, that's what you are, now. Besides, I don't know what else to call you."

She moaned in discomfort, shaking her head a few times until her vision cleared. "Kahlee. I… I think that was my name. Does this thing come off?" She pointed to the helmet.

The Ghost's "eye" narrowed, in its best approximation of a smile. "Of course, Guardian. There should be two seals on the underside, just pop them open with your thumbs and lift."

She heard the hiss as the seals broke, and she pulled the helmet off and breathed the fresh air. Her ice white hair fell to her shoulders, and her pale blue skin had waves of light flowing under it, as all Awoken do. The marking between her eyes signified her as an Earthborn, though she could no longer remember much of her life before this moment. Her white eyes moved across the rotting, disheveled room she was in. A broken weapon lay near where she had fallen, the now-ancient rifle cloven in two by some kind of blade. Kahlee examined the helmet in her hands, a very simple design, surprisingly light in her hands, but she guessed that meant it lacked much in the way of plating. She looked over the rest of the armor now covering her, a simple robe that barely made it to her knees, and a simple pair of slacks with light plating on the thighs and shins, and black boots.

"Where did all of this come from?"

"Standard issue Warlock gear. I fabricated it from available mass in the area."

"Warlock?"

"That's what the Traveler's Light has made you. There are three types of Guardians. You seemed best suited to become a Warlock."

"Whoa, slow down. None of this makes any sense."

The Ghost constricted his shell. "Sorry, I realize this may seem like a lot to take in, but in the morning, I'll take you home. Everything will start to make sense soon, I promise."

Kahlee sighed. "I don't even know where 'home' is anymore."

The Ghost floated her way. "I do."


	3. Journey To The City

**2: Journey To The City**

Kahlee spent most of the night in a corner of the rotted shack, resting. She would hardly call it sleep, but she felt energized in the morning nonetheless. As she stood up, the Ghost flew in through the hole in the roof.

"Oh, good, you're awake. It's time for us to leave. Thankfully, we don't have too far to go. Maybe less than a day's walk, if we're lucky. You've been right under our noses this whole time, I can't believe other Ghosts didn't find you sooner."

"Other Ghosts?"

"Of course. There are many of us, though I'm not sure how many specifically. Since the Traveler died, Ghosts have been seeking out those who can wield the Light. It has been this way for as long as I can remember. I searched a long time for you, and I'm glad I found you when I did. I was beginning to think I was never going to find a Guardian."

"Well, considering my alternative was being dead, I'm glad you found me, uh…" Kahlee trailed off, not knowing what to call her new companion.

"Oh, right. Sorry. You can call me Val."

She smiled. "Well, then thank you for waking me up, Val."

"My pleasure. But we should get moving." Val turned and nodded off into the distance. "That way, due South. Terrain seems relatively flat, shouldn't be too hard on the feet. Like I said, we should arrive sometime after sundown, if we hurry. If you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer them on the way."

Over the next few hours, Kahlee learned all about what the solar system had become in the years she had missed. Val explained that the Golden Age she remembered had come crashing down in a massive Collapse that not only sent Earth and her colonies into civil war, it also left the system vulnerable to attacks from outside. The great city of Rubicon in Mars' Meridian Bay had been surrendered twice, first to the red sands of the planet itself, and then to a militaristic race called the Cabal. Mercury was taken over as well, but Val could not tell her what populated its surface. "Classified." He said. Venus and Earth were now patrolled by gangs of pirates, a race calling themselves the Fallen. They divided themselves into groups called Houses, and the two major players on Earth were the House of Devils and the House of Kings. Most of their activity took place in Old Russia, but Val explained that many smaller Houses were scattered across every continent. And one of those groups operated in their area.

"The House of Daggers. Fairly small, not large enough to have their own Kell. But their leader is a nasty Baron by the name of Kretik, the Feared. He's been launching raids against the City for months now, the Vanguard think he's trying to get the attention of the larger Houses, and merge his House into one of them. Thankfully, he's been little more than a nuisance up to this point." Val flew in front of her, facing backwards so they were eye to "eye."

"Sounds dangerous. We've been walking in their territory for a while, now. Shouldn't you have told me about this sooner, or given me a weapon?" She stopped and put a hand on her hip as she stared at the Ghost.

She figured if Val could blush, he would be doing it now. "Well, that's the worse news. I don't exactly _have_ a weapon to give you."

"You _what?!_ "

"Well, Normally Ghosts modify a weapon that a newborn Guardian may have on them, so it will accept the ammunition we use. But… as you saw, your old weapon was broken beyond repair. Rather, I didn't have the means to fix it in the field. I used all the available mass in that shack to make your armor."

"Val…" Kahlee took a step back.

"I'm sorry, I've been looking for weapons as we've traveled, but …"

"Vaaaaal…" Kahlee began backpedaling faster.

"What?" Val asked.

Kahlee pointed behind him.

Val turned around and saw what Kahlee was backing away from. A large hoverbike, almost three meters long and a meter and a half wide, streaking across the landscape towards them.

"PIKE SCOUT! Get into cover!" He yelled as Kahlee jumped to her right. She landed behind one of the few rock formations on the plains as the bike screamed past, blue bolts of energy lancing from the guns mounted on the front.

"He's coming back around for another pass, what do we do?" Kahlee asked as she watched the Pike whip around. Her helmet's display suddenly showed her a trajectory arc leading from her to a point in front of her attacker.

"I'm bringing Glide functionality online. Normally it's used to travel short distances through the air, but in this case, you can propel yourself forward at greater speeds. Jump when I tell you, and you should be able to knock the pilot off his bike and take him out."

"How?"

"Try to disarm him on the way down! Quick, get set… jump NOW!"

As Kahlee leapt forward, she felt a surge of energy in her boots, and felt herself being launched towards the Pike. Right as she made impact with the pilot, she heard him gurgle in an alien tongue. The rider separated from his seat, and momentum propelled the two of them backwards. As the combatants hit the ground, she saw a dull flash of a pistol in the creature's holster. In a split second, she ripped the weapon free and rolled away from it. Kahlee rose to her feet and took a quick look at the strange weapon. The small handgun had six spikes lining the barrel, and was a drab tan color. The alien shrieked in its language, and it pulled a knife from its boot. The blade suddenly crackled with lightning as it charged.

Kahlee fired twice, and small blue bolts arced from the barrel and struck the Pike rider in the chest. It fell to the ground, howling in pain. She stood over the writhing creature, and fired once more, silencing it for good.

"What the hell is this thing?" She asked.

"A Dreg. The lowest of the Fallen ranks. See those stubs near his waist? Dregs usually get their lower arms docked until they prove themselves worthy. Then those docking caps get removed and they regrow their limbs."

"Wait a minute… they have _four_ arms?!"

"Normally, yes."

She reeled at that confirmation. "This is all too strange. So much has changed."

"Including our luck! Look!" Val motioned to the Pike, still hovering upright, kicking up a small cloud of dust.

"You want me… to ride that thing?"

Her Ghost nodded. We'll be able to get home twice as fast. And it will be a reliable way to defend yourself, should we run into trouble."

"Uhhh… how do I do this?" She approached the bike cautiously.

"Just hop on up. You won't be sitting on it, so much as you will be lying on top of it. Your Sparrow will work in a similar fashion, once we get you one."

"A Sparrow?"

"Standard ground vehicle of choice for Guardians. Not armed, but they go much faster than a Pike. But for now, we'll have to make do with this scrap heap."

Kahlee mounted the bike, and immediately felt it listing to her left. Shifting her center of gravity, she evened out again.

"Yeah, you got it! You use your own weight for basic maneuvers, trigger controls are on the yokes, and I don't think you'll have to worry about the maneuvering jets. Throttle is on the right yoke, brakes are controlled through the footpads, and boost is that blue trigger on the left yoke. That's just about it. Let's get to it."

Kahlee nodded to him, then turned to face the open stretch of land. Putting the mountain range on her left, she revved the Pike. Val nestled himself in between the control yokes, and Kahlee took off down the plains.


	4. The Gate

**3: The Gate**

The Pike made the journey much faster, but it was hardly what Kahlee would have called a "smooth ride." Her back ached, and her legs began to go numb from the churning hoverbike. But Val assured her the end was in sight. And the large sphere in the sky reassured her. Val told her the City was beneath it, and the large sphere itself was called The Traveler.

"So tell me… what is this City like?"

Val shifted in his makeshift dock. "Well, it's not much, but it's safe. For now. The actual city isn't in the best shape, but the Towers that the Guardians live in are much nicer. Commander Zavala thinks that it sends a bad message to live in much nicer conditions than the people we protect, but the people who live down in the City itself say otherwise. They realize the task the Guardians undertake is not an easy one, and that they should receive at least something in return."

"So, it's the City's way of thanking us?"

"Exactly."

"And who is Zavala?"

"He is the de facto head of the Vanguard, a powerful Titan."

"The Vanguard?"

"Your mentors and leaders. They'll guide you on your journey, wherever that may take you. You can always go to them for advice, or even just a new weapon or two."

"How many serve on the Vanguard?"

"Only three, one from each of the Guardian classes. Zavala represents the Titans, Cayde-6 begrudgingly speaks for the Hunters, and Ikora Rey is the voice of the Warlocks."

"So, I'll answer to her?" Kahlee asked.

"Not exactly. The Vanguard work in conjunction with each other, the goal being to put the needs of the City first. We are always working to better the lives of those we protect. At least, that's if you ask the Commander."

"I'm sensing there's some infighting going on."

Val's shell tightened again. "You might say that. Ikora believes in research and exploration, she says we need to understand our enemies."

Kahlee shrugged. "Seems sensible enough. What about this Cayde?"

"Well, he just wants to, as he put it, 'get out of the goddamn Tower once in a while and find something to kill.'"

Kahlee wrinkled her nose behind her visor. "Sounds like he doesn't really want to be there."

"He may get bored more often than the others, but he does his duty exceptionally well. He's always quick to help new Guardians earn their stripes."

"Val, is that it?" Kahlee reached the top of the hill, and lost her breath. Val floated up from his perch, and looked outward. A sprawling mass of buildings, surrounded by a massive wall, several towers loomed around the perimeter.

"Yep. That's it. The City. The last place on Earth that is still under the Traveler's protection." Still a few kilometers away, it looked quite small to Kahlee, but she took in the view all the same.

"It's quite a sight. How long do you think to get down there?"

"Only another hour or so. And we'd better hurry. The sun is going down. The Daggers usually send out their patrols at night."

Kahlee opened the throttle on the Pike and accelerated down the incline, eager to rest and begin her new life.

Making great time, Kahlee closed in on the walls of the City in less than the hour estimate Val had given her. She slowed her speed as she approached the gate. Turning the Pike to run parallel with the walls, she froze as a large spotlight snapped to light and zeroed in on her.

"Halt! What are you doing on that Pike? Identify yourself, or we will open fire!" said a booming voice through a loudspeaker.

Raising one hand to shield her eyes, she called back "My name is Kahlee. I'm a Guardian. A new one, anyway." The light switched off, and the gate slowly creaked open, a shower of rust fell from it as it raised. A man clad in white and orange armor walked out to meet her as she stepped off the Pike. A black and red rifle was in his hands, though he holstered it on his back as Kahlee walked up to him. A double "V" shaped visor stared back at her. He reached up to his head, and pulled the helmet off. Kahlee immediately noticed his right eye was a milky white, and a long scar ran from his cheek to above the right eye socket. He had another scar that ran diagonally across his left cheekbone, and running underneath that ear. His smile was warm, and he tucked his helmet under his left arm. "Welcome home, Guardian." He said as he extended his right hand. She shook it, and motioned to the Pike behind her.

"So, can I just park there, or do I need a permit?"

The man chuckled. "The boys can take care of it. For now, you should come with me. You must be exhausted." He pulled a comlink off the white and orange sash around his waist, and triggered it.

"Come on out, guys! We've got another junker, courtesy of the Daggers and our new friend, here." As he finished speaking, a small group of children came out from either side of the gate, tiny goggles over their eyes, and oil stains on their hands. They ran past the two Guardians and began to load the pike onto a mechanical dolly that two of them wheeled out.

"You have kids do heavy lifting?" Kahlee asked, both confused and concerned.

"We don't force them to. They want to help, and frankly we need a lot of it these days. These are some of the kids who have been orphaned over the years. Whenever someone brings in some useful salvage, they come out and take it to the foundries. They're happy to be useful, the Cityfolk are grateful that they haven't turned to begging or stealing, and the Guardians look after them while they're outside the walls." Bill motioned to the top of the barricade, and noticed cloaked figures with sniper rifles watching the children as they worked.

"Those fine ladies and gentlemen up there are the City's finest Rangers, or what's left of them. They stand watch as a tribute to the predecessor to the Hunter, the Takanome Rangers. The real Rangers haven't been seen or heard from in decades, but their efforts allowed this city to make it as far as it has." The man looked down at the feeling of one of the kids tugging on his sash.

"Mr. Bill, I brought you this from the bike. Hope you like it!" The boy giggled as he handed a chunk of metal to the adult. It was one of the gauges that displayed the Pike's heat status.

"Wow, for me? Cal, you shouldn't have. Thanks, buddy." Bill smiled and examined the gauge in his hands. He ruffled the boy's hair with his hand, making the child laugh even more.

"It's really shiny!" he said.

"So it is. You know what that means?" The man knelt down in front of the child.

"Glitter!" The boy exclaimed.

"You mean 'glimmer,' and yes, I'd say you've earned some." He reached into a pouch on his belt, and produced a small blue cube that flickered and glowed in the fading evening light.

"Here you go, champ." He tossed the cube into Cal's open hands.

"Wowee! Thanks, Mr. Bill! I gotta go back to work now. Buh-bye!" The child took off running behind his friends as they used the dolly's mechanical aid to push the Pike behind the City gate.

Kahlee smiled as she removed her own helmet. "So… Mr. Bill, is it?"

He laughed sheepishly, and rubbed the back of his neck. "Ah, that's just what the kids call me. It's uh, just 'Bill' for everyone else."

"Well then, Just Bill, lead on."

"Of course, of course. Come with me." Bill motioned for her to follow, and the two of them ventured into the City.


	5. The City

**A/N: So, this is probably my favorite chapter so far. Thanks again to my dear friend xXCShepardXx for letting me use Xanthe and Xeres in this story (on a similar note, I'm really glad I actually got to put them in the story this time around, they're a blast to write!), and be sure to check out her stuff, too! Who knows, you might just see Fireteam Orion in one of her stories someday ;-)! Anyways, enjoy the chapter! -Doinstuff**

 **4: The City**

As the pair of Guardians walked down the unpaved roads, Kahlee marveled at how people with so little seemed to have so much at the same time. Kids played in the dirt while their parents came out of their makeshift homes to scold them. Vendors sold fruit that looked like it had seen better days, but after receiving a sample from a kindly old man, the taste was far better than what she expected. But where there was joy, she could also see despair. Most of these homes looked like old, rusty shipping containers from a time long past. Some were simple wooden shacks. It seemed like a lucky few had metal sidings, but many of these domiciles had seen better days.

"Do they all live like this?" Kahlee asked her tour guide as they walked through the dilapidated neighborhood.

"Most do, yes." Said Bill. "Resources have been scarce for quite some time. And even in a time where we should all be united, there is still a social hierarchy. This is a poor district of the City, but as we get closer to the Tower, you'll probably notice the accommodations will start to look nicer. The people living near the base of the Tower live in actual houses, left over from the Golden Age."

"While the Guardians live high up in the Tower in luxury." Kahlee remarked.

"It's like your Ghost told you, it's just one of the perks. We do a lot to help these people, and any of them would tell you that they feel we deserve to live comfortably." Bill pointed out towards a group of civilians who were staring at the pair as they walked. "Don't believe me? Ask them."

"It's not that I don't believe you, I just… wait, how did you know my Ghost told me that?" Kahlee stopped in her tracks.

"Because it's the same thing that _my_ Ghost told _me_ when I was a Newborn. Sorry, where are my manners? Cee, come out and say hello, please?" Bill held out his palm, and a Ghost sprung to life, its shell mirroring the colors of Bill's armor.

"Ah, bringing another Kinderguardian home, huh Bill?" The little robot fluttered off his hand and circled Kahlee for a moment. "Let's see what we got this time…"

"Cee, play nice."

"Yeah, yeah, I know the drill. Well at any rate, welcome to your new home, Warlock. In case you haven't heard, my name is Cee, and Bill is my zombie puppe- I mean, Guardian." The Ghost chuckled nervously at that last remark, prompting Kahlee to laugh herself.

"It's a pleasure, Cee. My name is Kahlee, and this is Val." Mimicking Bill, she opened her own hand, and Val popped up. Cee shook his "head" from side to side.

"Believe me, I know who Val is. So, ya finally woke one up? 'Bout damn time, Val."

Val flew close to Cee, meeting eye to eye. "It's not as easy as it sounds, Cee. How long did _you_ search for Bill?"

"That's hardly relevant, I could have found him at least twice by the time you-"

"Enough, guys!" Bill separated the Ghosts. "Remember, we're all on the same team, here."

Cee spun his shell. "I know, I'm just messin' with him. Glad you brought one back, Val. She looks like a winner. Anyway, I'm gonna go back to cracking that drive for you, Bill. Just let me know if you need anything." With that, Cee disintegrated into nothing.

Val turned to face Kahlee. "I've got some numbers to run, so if you don't mind, I'm gonna go, too."

"Sure thing, Val."

Once the Ghosts had gone, Kahlee looked back at Bill. "Shall we move on?"

"Of course. Actually, before we head up to the Tower, I think some people you should meet are down here today, too. Let's go look for them." Bill motioned with his hand for her to follow, and the two of them navigated the narrow streets. Bill led her deep into the sprawling mass of people, until they came to a clearing. The Cityfolk had set up a park with a small pond in the middle of the shanty town, and people were sitting around enjoying themselves. There was a young couple sharing a picnic and watching the sunset, and a child was playing a with a homemade toy boat down at the shore of the water.

"What are we doing here?" Kahlee asked.

"Waiting for them." Was Bill's only reply.

"Waiting for who?"

"Them." Bill nodded his head to his left as the sound of a revving engine caught her attention. She looked to where the noise originated from to see a woman in a blue sleeveless jumpsuit sitting atop a roaring hoverbike. Some distance behind her, another woman stood holding a cable that was attached to the back of the bike. She appeared to be standing on a metal sheet of some kind. The people by the waterfront started to give them plenty of clearance.

"Who are they?"

"The woman on the Sparrow is Amanda Holliday, she's the local shipwright. She'll get you set up with a ship and Sparrow of your own. You won't be a very effective Guardian without her help."

"You ready?" shouted Holliday over the whine of the Sparrow.

"And the other woman?" Kahlee asked.

"That…" Bill began.

"YOU KNOW IT, BITCH! LET'S GOOOOOO!" yelled the other as the Sparrow boosted forward, dragging the apparent water skier across the surface of the pond at great speeds. The two women shrieked with joy and adrenaline as they did two quick laps across the water.

"…is Xeres." Bill finished.

"Why do I need to meet her, again?"

"Because she is going to teach you how to do your job well, and have a shitload of fun while you do it."

Kahlee stared at him, wide-eyed. "And why would I need to do that?"

Bill glanced sideways at her. "Because what we do is no cakewalk, and you're gonna have to learn to blow off some steam sooner or later. Might as well be sooner."

Kahlee pursed her lips. "I see..."

Bill patted her on the shoulder. "Trust me, you'll thank me later."

"Or you'll want to kill him." Said a voice behind them. Kahlee whipped around and saw another woman, an Awoken like her, standing behind them, arms folded.

"Hello, Bill. It's been a while."

"Xanthe, uh… how's it going?" Bill rubbed his hands together, looking a bit nervous. The woman unfolded her arms as she took two steps towards Bill.

"Unclench, Titan. If I _was_ going to kill you, I wouldn't do it here." Xanthe smirked.

" _I_ would!" Yelled Xeres as she tackled Bill from behind, clearly done with her waterskiing.

Bill laughed as he fell. Xeres sat on top of Bill's chestplate, leaning in to be face to face with her prey.

"How ya doin', handsome?" She jokingly said as she rose to her feet. She helped Bill up, and he chuckled as he dusted off his back side.

"Fine, just fine. Xanthe, Xeres, this is Kahlee. She's a Newborn, I was hoping you two wouldn't mind helping me get her settled." Bill brought their attention to Kahlee, who was very obviously flabbergasted by the series of events she was witnessing. A slender hand grasped her shoulder.

"Don't mind them too much, they're just havin' a bit of fun." Kahlee turned to see Holliday smiling warmly at her, toweling off her short blond hair.

Bill moved between the two Awoken women, and motioned to the mechanic. "And as I said before, this is Amanda Holliday. Amanda, this is-"

"Kahlee, I know." She pointed to her ears. "These ain't just for hangin' pretty baubles from, ya know?"

Bill showed her his palms in a sign of surrender. "Right, right, sorry." He turned to face the four women in front of him. "So, as I was saying, Xanthe and Xeres are Hunters, the third and final class of Guardian. They are also sisters, if you can't tell." He turned his attention to the Hunters.

"Ladies, I was hoping one of you wouldn't mind joining us tomorrow afternoon for a patrol. Once we get her armed and outfitted with a ship and bike, of course." He motioned to Holliday.

"Well, I can get her a ship tomorrow, no problem, and as a matter of fact, you can go ahead and take that Sparrow I was ridin' just now. This was just a test drive, anyway. She doesn't have a permanent rider yet." Holliday jerked her thumb over to the Sparrow resting in the mud at the shoreline.

"That's very generous of you, thank you." Kahlee responded.

"And don't worry, I'll clean her up and get her tuned up before I hand her over. Just come see me in the morning. I can't help you with guns and armor, though. You'll have to go see Banshee or the quartermasters for that."

"I'll take care of that with her before we come see you." Bill nodded at Holliday, who flicked her first two fingers off her brow in a salute before turning to collect the muddy Sparrow. Holliday sped off in the direction of the Tower.

"Now, about that patrol, ladies?"

"We might be able to meet up with you later in the day, but Xeres and I have a long list of things to do tomorrow. Maybe you can get _him_ to help you out." Xanthe folded her arms across her chest again.

"I suppose it wouldn't hurt to ask him. Care to walk with us to the Tower? Maybe give me a hand finding her a room tonight?" Bill motioned towards the giant spire towards the edge of the wall.

"I suppose."

"Yeah, let's head in. I'm exhausted." Xeres picked up her makeshift board and tucked it under her arm.

Kahlee looked at her new friends and smiled to herself.

 _They might be crazy, but I think I could get used to this,_ she thought.

After another few minutes, the sun had completely gone down, the Moon and stars concealed by clouds. The four Guardians reached the elevator at the Tower's base, and for the first time since her rebirth, Kahlee felt safe. Once the lift arrived at the top, the doors opened and she took her first steps into a larger world.


	6. A New Morning

**5: A New Morning**

Kahlee awoke to the sound of a knock at the door. Xanthe and Xeres had set her up with a vacant apartment the previous night. It was relatively unfurnished, little more than a bed and a desk with a computer terminal. She got up out of bed, sleep not coming easy to her once again. She walked over to the door and hit the switch. Bill stood in the doorway. No longer in armor, he wore a gray tunic and pants, a double-headed eagle insignia on his chest.

"Sleep well?" he asked.

"Not as well as I would have liked, but I'll get by. So, what can I do for you?"

"I figured I'd show you around. You need a few minutes?"

Kahlee cocked her head. "Yeah, if you don't mind."

"Go ahead and get ready, I'll be down the hall." Bill waved and walked away.

The door shut behind him, and Kahlee took a short shower, grateful that the Tower had a readily available supply of hot water. An robot referring to itself as "Klivian 11-38" dropped off a casual outfit for her, slacks and a shirt with a blue robe that fell to her ankles, drawn in at the waist with a gold belt. Once she had changed, Kahlee keyed the door switch and looked around the halls for Bill, who waved her over to an elevator.

"Come on, time to do some shopping." He said as the elevator opened up.

"Oh, really?" She replied. The doors closed and the elevator car hummed as they ascended to the top floor of the Tower.

"Yep, you won't be much good out in the field without some quality weapons and armor. We also have to pick up your vehicles from Holliday. Which reminds me, this is for you." He unclasped a pouch from his belt and handed it to her. She opened the pouch, and inside were several large, glowing blue cubes similar to the one Bill had given the young boy yesterday.

"Glimmer. The currency of the City. Programmable matter that has more uses than I can count." Bill said.

"I can't accept this. Why are you giving it to me?"

"That is your payment." Bill patted her on the shoulder.

"Payment for what?"

"The Pike and pistol that you recovered. Now more than ever, the foundries pay very well for the materials the Pike is made of. And Banshee, the Gunsmith is always looking for weapons scavenged on the battlefield. That's a pretty hefty sum, you should be able to afford all the gear you'll need." The elevator beeped as the car arrived at the top, and the doors opened. Kahlee took a step out and her eyes widened. In front of her was a balcony overlooking the City, and as she walked to her right, she saw the main plaza. Beautiful foliage decorated the plaza, and banners waved in the morning air. Several robotic frames were performing various menial tasks around the area. A hooded Awoken was poring over a table full of ancient tomes and maps. Bill motioned for her to follow him to a blue Exo standing by racks of weaponry.

"Ah, Bill. How's it going today?" The Exo asked in a gravelly voice.

"It's going, Banshee. I need you to get my friend Kahlee here set up with some firepower. Kahlee, this is Banshee-44, resident Gunsmith. Not many weapons he hasn't seen, and even less that he can't fix."

"No problem. What kind of guns you lookin' for?" Banshee turned to her as he waved his hand over his vast arsenal.

Kahlee hesitated before answering. "I'm… not really sure, to be honest. It's been a while since I handled a weapon. Any recommendations?" Banshee began muttering to himself, completely ignoring the two Guardians in front of him as he sifted through his inventory.

"Hmm, let's see. Warlock, right? Maybe some close quarters gear. Hand cannons, perhaps? Yeah, that'll do just fine." Banshee produced a revolver and placed it on the table before turning back to his cache. Kahlee glanced over at Bill, who leaned in close to her.

 _"_ _Don't worry, this is just his process. Trust me, he's the best."_ He whispered.

"Now, backup weapons, let's see… LMGs look too heavy, won't do. Fusion rifles? No, too slow, bad rate of fire, won't compliment that pistol. Sniper rifle, maybe? No, no, gotta be a shotgun. You like shotguns?" Banshee looked up at Kahlee.

"Uh, I suppose." Kahlee stuttered.

"Perfect." The Exo gave his best attempt at a human smile, and placed a shotgun on the table. "This is a damn fine model. Better range than most, very controlled pellet spread. This'll punch a nice hole in just about anything."

"Good to know, thank you."

Banshee picked up the revolver next. "This one's another winner, Warlock. Well balanced, 7 round capacity, holographic sights. Packs a bit of a wallop, so be extra careful with the recoil."

"I will, thanks. What do I owe you for all this?"

"Glimmer is usually nice. I'll let the cannon go for 1000, 2500 for the shotgun." Kahlee opened her new Glimmer pouch and Bill helped her determine the correct amount. Banshee placed the weapons and the correct ammo for them in a case, and nodded.

"You're all set, uh… wait… the hell was your name?" he mumbled to himself. Kahlee gave Bill another quizzical look.

"He's… not all there, if you get my meaning." Bill tapped his head a few times. Kahlee silently acknowledged him.

"Kahlee, and thanks again, Banshee."

"Right, right, that was it. Take care of those guns, Guardian. Come see me if there's any problems." Banshee stashed the Glimmer underneath the table, and turned back to his duties.

"So, what next?" Kahlee asked as the pair walked away from Banshee's stand.

I'm gonna take you to see the Vanguard. They'll give you some new armor. Then we need to swing by Holliday to pick up your ship and Sparrow, then we-"

Val popped to life. "If I could interrupt, why don't I go to Holliday now? I can wire her whatever payment we owe, and get the transmat links all set up, and we can save a bit of time."

"That sounds agreeable. Go ahead, Val."

"I'm on it." The little robot flew away down a passage near the elevator, heading towards the hangar. Bill and Kahlee continued down a flight of stairs and came upon a long hallway. On the left hand side of the hall, a frame android stood behind a desk, rattling off what sounded like statistics. On the opposite side, a Titan stood with his arms folded, staring at the two of them. Kahlee could feel his eyes on her, even beneath his helmet. As they walked by, the Titan spoke.

"Bringing me some more fresh meat, Bill? Care to prove yourself in the Crucible, Warlock?" The man let out a hearty laugh that seemed both friendly and intimidating all at once.

"Maybe some other time, she's still getting her legs. Kahlee, this is Shaxx."

" _Lord_ Shaxx."

"Right, sorry. This is Lord Shaxx, he runs the Crucible. It's a way for Guardians to both sharpen their skills, and blow off some steam." Bill motioned to Shaxx, who gave her a stern nod.

"How?"

Shaxx laughed again. "By killing each other, usually."

Kahlee was taken aback at the Titan's words. "Excuse me?!"

Bill put his hand on her shoulder. "Relax. We don't kill each other permanently. Don't get me wrong, we _do_ kill each other, it's a live-fire event after all, but with Ghost revives, you're back in the fight in seconds."

"Ghost revives?"

Bill laughed. "They do more than just give you advice, you know. One of the benefits of being a servant of the Light is that your Ghost has the ability to revive you after death."

Kahlee relaxed her shoulders. "I don't think I'm quite ready for that, thank you."

Shaxx nodded again. "Whenever you're ready, the Crucible will be waiting for you."

Bill waved for her to follow him down the hall. The room at the end widened into a high ceiling, and in the center of the room, a large table with three Guardians around it. Bill leaned in again.

"The man at the head of the table is Zavala. The Exo on the left is Cayde-6. And Ikora is the woman seated on the right." Bill ushered Kahlee towards her first, and the dark-skinned woman looked up at her a smiled warmly.

"Welcome to the Light, Warlock. I trust this is your first visit to the Tower?"

"Yes, ma'am." Kahlee bowed to her superior.

"Please," Ikora held up her hand, "there is no need for formalities with me. Call me Ikora. Now then, if I had to venture a guess, I'd say you need some new armor."

Kahlee nodded as Ikora produced a datapad from her violet robes. She began typing in a frequency. "Where is your Ghost currently, Warlock?"

"Kahlee. And my Ghost is in the hangar at the moment."

"Very well, Kahlee. I will send the requisition orders to him, and he will acquire the armor for you. Consider it a gift. You can visit the quartermaster at any time to acquire new pieces, for a price. Now then Bill, you should direct her to the Speaker, but the Vanguard will ask you to return here once she has found her way. We have a task you may be able to help us with." Kahlee noted that the entire time she had been in the room, Cayde and Zavala had been eyeing her intently, probably trying to judge her potential.

"Of course, Ikora. Kahlee, follow me." Bill turned on his heel, and Kahlee followed close behind. Once back in the main plaza, Bill took her to another set of stairs, and down through a winding corridor that led to another balcony. A large room sat across a small bridge, where he stopped.

"This is where I leave you, for now. Come find me when you finish up, I'll still be with the Vanguard, probably. I get the feeling this morning just got a lot longer for me." He smiled and extended his hand. Kahlee shook it, and as Bill left, she saw Holliday coming down the stairs with Val floating nearby. She waved at Kahlee as she approached.

"You're all set, Kahlee. Ship's in orbit now, a nice Phaeton class bird. And she's got that old S-10 I was talking about stored in the cargo bay. Just came to drop off your little buddy, here." Val fluttered over to Kahlee and hovered at her shoulder.

"And I've collected the suit of armor Ikora gifted you. A very nice Samsara base set. Feel free to customize it any way you like."

Kahlee smiled. "Thanks, Val."

Holliday's face wrinkled. "You probably shouldn't keep the Speaker waiting. I hear he's pretty busy these days." She pointed towards the arched doorway to the Speaker's chambers.

"Right, thank you." Kahlee pointed towards the door. "Val, shall we?"

The Ghost nodded in approval, and the two entered the chambers.


	7. The Speaker

**6: The Speaker**

The large gyroscopic sculpture took up most of the room, and Kahlee was immediately mesmerized by it. Its rotations were so precise, and it all revolved around a glowing orb, and with no wall on the opposite end of the room, the Traveler sat in silent vigil over the City out in the distance. Kahlee marveled at the chamber, until her eyes caught sight of a man, robed and masked, gracefully moving down the staircase to her left. As the man descended, the plinths that lined the perimeter of the gyroscope began to glow, and orbs formed at each one.

"Welcome home, Guardian. I wish it were under better circumstances. As you may have seen, the world has long forgotten its former glory. There was a time where we were much more powerful. When we did not have to scrounge a living out of the dirt and rubble of our past. Until such a time when it rediscovers its voice… I am the one who speaks for the Traveler." The man reached the bottom of the staircase, gesturing with his left hand to the pulsing orb on one of the plinths. "You must have no end to your questions, Guardian, but before I answer them, I sense that the Light has not yet determined how you will wield it. This will help it decide. Please Warlock, place your hands inside the orb."

Kahlee hesitated for a moment, until she felt Val nudge her in the back. "Go ahead, it's perfectly safe. And you'll be stronger for it." She took a deep breath and immersed her hands in the glowing sphere.

Once the orb swallowed her wrists, she felt a warm sensation flow up her arms. A loud hum swept through the room, and then as the ball emanated a bright light that filled her vision, she also felt all the sound around her die. Deafened and nearly blind, she could only see her hands and the silhouette of the Speaker around her. After several seconds that felt like an eternity, the intensity of the light died, and her hearing was returned. She felt one last thud in her chest as the orb dissipated, sending a shockwave through the room. Birds outside the window flew away in droves, their calls echoing in the high ceiling. In front of her, a smaller orb had formed, a bright orange ball floating in front of her.

"It is done." The Speaker said. "Congratulations are in order… Sunsinger."

Kahlee looked down at her left hand, and noticed it was wreathed in flame. She gasped, and attempted to shake off the fire before realizing she felt no pain because of it. She opened her palm and turned her hand over in front of her a few times, marveling at the power of the Light inside her. She clenched her fist, and small tongues of flame squirted out from between her fingers as the fire subsided.

"This is… incredible." She stammered, staring in amazement.

The Speaker bowed slightly. "This is but one of the Traveler's gifts to us. The Light empowers Guardians in three forms. Warlocks who utilize Void Light are very powerful and aggressive. Arc Light is not commonly found in Warlocks, but there are a gifted few who can teach you to wield it. And then there are the Sunsingers, who use the power of Solar light to burn away the Darkness. With enough training, they can even bring themselves back from death."

Kahlee returned the Speaker's bow. "I have no words strong enough to thank you."

"None are necessary, Guardian." The masked man turned to observe the Traveler, gesturing for her to follow. They circled the gyroscopic sculpture, and stood at the edge of the open face of the Tower.

"Now then, do you have any questions? I will answer what I can." The Speaker placed his hands on the railing, staring outward.

"What is the Traveler? Where did it come from?"

The Speaker did not turn to face her. "Even after all this time, nobody knows for certain. It was first discovered by humanity on Mars centuries ago. But where it came from before that, we cannot tell. As for what it is, it is again unclear. Some say an artificial intelligence, some say a vessel. There are even some who consider it a god. But for the people who live in its shadow, it is our salvation."

"What do you mean?"

"We live in a dark time, Guardian. The Traveler is not as powerful as it once was. There was a time where it was able to protect the entire solar system. But its power is fading. The Darkness is coming back. If we do not find some way to drive it back, the Traveler will not have the strength to save us. Which is where you come in. Your brothers and sisters are out there, pushing back against this evil tide. Join them in the fight. Your Ghost will guide you."

Val extended his outer shell as it rotated. "I'll be by your side every step of the way, Kahlee." He turned to the Speaker. "On that note sir, Kahlee and I should report back to the Vanguard. We've been chosen for an assignment."

Kahlee shot her Ghost a startled look. "What?"

"I thought he told you. The Vanguard want us to assist in a search and rescue mission with Bill."

Kahlee's heart raced. "I'm not so sure I'm ready for this, Val."

"Trial by fire. Sometimes it's the best way to learn."

The Speaker parted his hands. "Well then, off you go, you shouldn't keep your superiors waiting. Traveler's Light, Guardian." And with that, the Speaker turned away from her and folded his hands behind his back.

Kahlee shakily walked out of the Speaker's chambers and slowly made her way back to the briefing room. As she approached the long table again, her presence was only acknowledged by Ikora, who motioned to an empty seat next to him. Zavala, Cayde and Bill were busy studying a holo-map, locked in heated discussion.

Cayde pointed to a section. "This ridge here is two klicks southeast of the Daggers outpost. That's where we lost contact with the team. I'd start your search there and sweep northwest 'til you find 'em."

Zavala enlarged the projection of the ridge, tracing several paths with his fingers. "These are known patrol routes the Daggers employ. Normally they run every ninety minutes from dusk to dawn, but if they've discovered our team, they'd most likely increase the frequency of their patrols. Utilize extreme caution." The veteran Titan looked her way.

"Kahlee, thank you for joining us. While I understand that Bill is still teaching you what it means to be a Guardian, the Vanguard has need of his skills on an important mission. We'd like for you to join him, there's no better way for you to learn than by doing."

Cayde winked one of his mechanical eyes at her. "You'll do fine, kiddo. I've got faith."

Ikora put her hand on Kahlee's, and offered her a simple, reassuring nod.

Kahlee took a deep breath and rose from her chair. "I'll do what I can."

Bill gave her a subtle thumbs-up and smiled. Zavala also allowed himself a small grin before resetting the holo-map.

"Wonderful. Now then, it's time for you to find our Hunters."


	8. Hard Contact

**A/N: Sorry for the delay on this one, hope the length makes up for it. You'll notice that Tana is a new character who wasn't in my character list at the beginning of the story. She was kind of a spur-of-the-moment decision to give Dak a partner. I also decided to screw around with perspective shifts to drive the story forward. Let me know how it works. Also, graphic content follows. -Doinstuff**

 **7:Hard Contact**

The crosshair wavered over the Fallen Captain's head. Dak-12 kept his finger well off the trigger, as much as he wanted to squeeze.

"You have no idea how hard it is to resist the urge to waste this sucker." The Exo turned his hawk-like helmet to face his partner, who shook her head and laughed.

"You do realize this is supposed to be a recon mission, right? Zavala was very clear, he has a plan in place." Tana shifted in her prone position, and adjusted the dope on her rifle's scope.

Dak shook his head this time. "Yeah, well you know the old saying: 'no plan survives contact with the enemy.' We still have to be ready for anything."

"They outnumber us by a ridiculous amount. You really want to engage?" Tana said sarcastically.

"…Kind of, yes. Just to see if we could make it."

"You're insane, you know that, right?"

"…Kind of, yes."

Tana scoffed and looked down her rifle's scope again. From their vantage point on the Northern ridge, they had perfect sightlines on the Daggers outpost less than one hundred and fifty meters away. Twenty-five meters below them, the Fallen scavengers below them were a buzzing hive of activity.

"Heads up, we've got another Skiff incoming. That's the third one today. What the hell's going on?" Tana centered her crosshair on the aircraft.

"It's a little out of the ordinary, sure, but... Wait, hang on… those aren't Dagger markings. I think… Tana, I think those are the Devils. And something tells me they're not looking for a fight. This is bad."

Dak figured if he had blood, it would be running cold right about now. "Vera, can you confirm?" His Ghost popped to life, her jet black shell constricting.

"House of Devils sigil confirmed. And the markings on the bow suggest that a high-ranking officer is aboard. Most likely a Baron."

"No… its Riksis. It's their Archon." Dak said as his suspicion was affirmed. A massive Fallen deployed from the rear of the craft, and instantly sent the smaller beings around him into a panic, as they raced to get their base presentable for their guest of honor. Archons were among the highest ranks of the Fallen, one step down from Kell. They commanded almost as much respect and fear from their subordinates, and also warranted almost as much of an escort. Two more Devil skiffs made their approach, flying directly over the two Hunters. Fortunately, their vantage point was well concealed, and they were not detected. Dak tracked the two new arrivals all the way to their destination, watching intently as they dropped off the Archon's bodyguards.

"What do you think?" Tana shifted her weight again, clearly nervous.

Dak reached over with his left hand and patted her on the shoulder. "I think we should stay calm. And we should definitely radio back to the Tower. We haven't checked in since before we got here last night, they could be getting worried."

"Right. I'll establish the link, cover me." Tana summoned her own Ghost, and ordered him to connect to the Tower channels. The little robot extended his shell, and a bright blue ball formed around him.

"What are you doing? They might see you!" Tana warned her Ghost.

"I don't have much of a choice right now. There's a lot of interference here, I need to boost the signal to have any chance of getting through."

Dak froze as he watched their prey below. Two of the Archon guards must have caught sight of the blue glint against the grey mountain face behind the two Guardians, and was signaling their comrades.

"Tana, cover him up, quick! I think we've been compromised! Hurry!"

Before Tana could recall her Ghost, Dak saw the familiar flash of a wire rifle from the base of the outpost. The blue bolt raced toward their hiding spot and struck Tana's Ghost, which exploded on contact in a blue flash. Shrapnel bounced off their armor. Dak didn't need to see her face to guess at her horrified expression beneath it. Without her Ghost, she was vulnerable. She no could no longer call for her ship or Sparrow, and more critical, she was no longer able to be revived. Ghosts possessed the ability to resurrect their Guardians if killed in action, but once a Guardian lost their Ghost, they were very much mortal in the field.

"Dak…"

"We've got contacts, closing in fast. They've jumped in their skiffs, and are inbound. Tana, stay focused! We can get through this, we're gonna be fine! Vera, be our extra eyes, call out targets or any weaknesses we can exploit!"

"Copy that! Those skiffs are carrying a dozen troops apiece, plus full compliments of Shank drones. It can be assumed the Devils are calling for backup as well."

Tana's voice cracked. "This is going to be bad."

"It could be worse."

"How? How could it possibly be worse?!" Tana asked as she fired at the Skiff's main guns, hoping to disable them.

"It could be raining. That would suck." Dak chuckled to himself as he zeroed in on a fuel cell. Firing two shots, he was met with no explosion, much to his dismay.

"Damn, they've armored the fuel tanks. Time to break cover and engage 'em as soon as they drop."

Dak rolled to his left and rose to his feet. Leaving his sniper rifle on its bipod, he drew his revolver and braced for the worst.

/

Bill and Kahlee sped across the base of the mountain range on their Sparrows, holding fast to the bearings that Cayde had provided. She barely had the time to get acquainted with her new armor before she and Bill set out on their rescue attempt. The Fallen base they were heading towards was surrounded by a jamming field that prevented the trapped Guardians from escaping via transmat. This instantaneous transport of material from one place to the next was also a new introduction to Kahlee, first by being brought from her ship to the planet's surface in a matter of seconds, but also by watching Val summon her Sparrow out of thin air.

"So tell me something," Kahlee asked over the radio as the two barreled across the land, "have you worked with these Hunters before?"

"Our paths have crossed more than a few times, yes. Why do you ask?" Bill responded.

"Just curious. You seem to know everyone around here."

Bill was quiet for a few seconds. "You could say that, I guess. But Dak and Tana are different. I've been their muscle on more missions than I can count. They were there when I lost my eye."

"I've been meaning to ask you about that. How did that happen? And how can you still run field missions with only one good eye?"

Another long pause on Bill's end. Kahlee was worried she might have offended her new partner.

"That first question requires a long story I don't have time to tell you at the moment. But, I have an ocular implant that allows my eye to function almost as well as if it had never been hurt. Recently, the Vanguard have been keeping me within the City limits, they're probably afraid I'm not as effective as I used to be. That's why I've been at the Gate for so long."

"I'm sorry, I didn't know."

"Not your fault. Hopefully, this mission helps Zavala see that I'm good to get back out here and do what I do best."

"Which is?" Kahlee asked.

"Killing Fallen, of course." Bill laughed.

Kahlee opened her mouth to reply, but before she could speak, a sharp, rapid beeping filled her ears.

"Contacts. We're closing in on our Guardians. They're on a ridge not far from here, and the Fallen base should be coming into visual range now." Val relayed information to her as they reached a small rise. As they hit the crest, Kahlee took in the gut-wrenching scene in the distance. Meters above them, giant gunships rained fire on the ridge her Ghost had mentioned. Troops had begun to deploy from the rear of one of the ships, and the small outlines of two cloaked Guardians stood back-to-back, ready to face their foes.

"There!" Bill opened his radio channel. "Dak! Tana! It's Bill, what's your status, over?"

A new voice answered in her ear. "Take a wild guess, Titan! Multiple hostiles on all sides, we've got minimal cover up here, where the hell are you?"

Bill checked his HUD to get bearings from his compass. "We're to the Southeast, trying to find a way up the cliffs to you."

"We?" You have a partner now? Tana, watch your left!" Grunting filled the comm channel. A female voice entered the conversation.

"He's down, another Captain dropping in. Dak, cover me, I need to reload."

"Tana says hi."

"Copy that, just hold on a bit longer, we're on our way." Bill closed the link so it was just him and Kahlee.

"This isn't going to be easy. I thought there would have been a way for us to get up there from this side, but I was wrong. We have to cut across the bottom of that cliff face and get to the other side. Dak and Tana are great scouts, but in a straight-up fight, they're going to be overwhelmed in minutes. The clock is ticking, let's get up there."

Kahlee pumped the throttle on her Sparrow, and the two of them pushed their Sparrows to maximum thrust as they sped off to rescue their comrades.

/

"Ammo check! How you doing?" Dak called out as he jammed his knife into the chest of a Fallen Captain, following it to the ground as they fell. Unsheathing another knife from his belt, he threw it end over end into the skull of a Vandal, whose shock cannon was trained on his partner.

"Down to my last mag. Your friends better show up soon!" Tana replied as she picked up the dead Vandal's weapon and gunned down a pair of enemies with it. "Huh, not bad." She said as she hefted the cannon again. Dak drew his revolver and squeezed the trigger. He was only met with the sound of a clicking hammer.

"Dammit, I need to reload!" As Dak produced a new cylinder from his ammo pouch, time slowed down, and he witnessed his nightmare scenario unfold. Tana fired her scavenged cannon through the chest of a Vandal, but she failed to notice that the Baron of the Daggers, Kretik himself, had entered the battle. She turned around too late, and as Dak fumbled to get his weapon loaded, Kretik drove his Shock sword through Tana's chest. Lifting her into the air with one of his lower arms, he used an upper arm to rip her helmet off her head, exposing her frightened and pained face to the midday sun. Her tanned skin drained of color, and her brown hair billowed in the wind. Her expression turned to stone, and with the last of her strength, she drew her knife from her chest sheath and drove it up into Kretik's shoulder. The Baron howled in pain before removing his own sword from her abdomen. Tossing her aside like a ragdoll, the merciless Baron barked a retreat order, making direct eye contact with Dak, who had finally loaded his weapon, and was firing in vain at the retreating Fallen.

As the troops started to board their gunships, Bill and Kahlee had reached the top of the ridge. Bill leapt free of his Sparrow, holding his hands out.

"Cee! Launcher, now!" In a second, a large rocket launcher materialized in Bill's hands, and he took aim. He fired two guided warheads at the rear ship, one striking the troop hold and the other detonating the fuel cells. The ship was engulfed in an orange fireball, and it exploded, stranding several Fallen on the ground as the lead ship fled. Kahlee drew her new hand cannon and took aim at the stragglers, firing as she advanced. Bill tossed his launcher aside and switched to his auto rifle.

Dak was fighting like one possessed, enraged by the sight of his partner's body lying on the ground. As Kahlee and Bill finished off the remaining enemies, Dak began chasing down a Dreg, shrieking and wailing in its native tongue as it ran, most likely begging for mercy. Unfortunately for the Dreg, Exos did not get tired. And Dak was in no mood for mercy. As the alien's pace slowed, Dak quickly closed in on his prey, tackling the exhausted peon to the ground. Rolling the creature onto its back, he stabbed the Dreg in the chest, then opened its throat with his knife. Liquid ether spewed from the wounds, spattering his helmet and chestplate. Dak yelled in rage as he stabbed it again and again, until Bill pulled him off, barring his arms while Kahlee took the knife away. Dak froze for a few moments, the hawk-like eyes on his helmet fixed on the dead alien at his feet. Removing his hood, he popped his helmet seals and tossed it aside as he turned to run towards Tana.

He knelt by her side, and propped her head up with one hand. She was still breathing, but could not speak. A single tear rolled down her cheek and mixed with the blood running from her lip, and she gave him a weak smile. Her green eyes were beginning to drain of life. Dak summoned his Ghost.

"Vera, give me a bio-scan, NOW!"

"One of her lungs has collapsed, massive internal hemorrhaging. There's nothing more we can do."

"Dammit! Prep for revive!"

"You know I can't do that, only a Ghost with no Guardian can-"

Dak pushed her away, not wanting to hear anymore. "Son of a…"

The Hunter took his longtime friend's hand and squeezed it. He felt no response from her. Tana's eyes were looking off to the distance, at the fading outline of the Traveler. Dak closed them with his fingers, and stood for a moment, before bending down again to remove her cloak, which she wore as a tribute to the legendary Cloud Walkers, a giant red bird emblazoned on the back. The cloak was not stained with blood, but the puncture wound from Kretik's blade scarred the cloak.

Unfastening his own camouflaged cloak, he fastened Tana's around his neck. He turned to face Bill and Kahlee.

"Dak…" Bill took a step forward. "I'm sorry, we should have gotten here sooner."

"It's not your fault. You did all you could, I know it. I just… I should have been faster." Dak looked down at his fallen comrade. "Kretik is going to pay for this. I swear it."

Bill walked over and put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "We'll see to her, but right now, I need a report. The Tower lost contact with you two well before you arrived here. What did you find?"

Dak remained silent, staring at Tana's body.

"Dak, stay with me here. What did you guys see?"

"Riksis." Was his only reply.

"Shit…"

Kahlee stood next to Bill. "What does that mean?"

Bill removed his helmet. "Riksis is the Archon Priest of the House of Devils, the largest and most powerful House on the planet. I'm guessing the fact that he showed up today in this region means that Kretik finally got his attention, and is interested in an alliance."

"Or worse, a merger." Dak said, stepping away from Tana. "Could you imagine how much hell there would be to pay if Kretik and his goons dropped their flags and picked up Devils banners? The City would be more at risk than ever."

"You're right, we've got to warn the City." Bill mounted his Sparrow. "The Daggers will undoubtedly close up shop here, but their main base has to be on this continent somewhere. Let's get clear of this jamming field and get back to the City ASAP. Dak, you coming with us?"

"Yeah… Yeah, I'll catch up. I'll rendezvous outside the dark zone, wait for me there."

"You gonna be alright?" Bill asked as he and Kahlee turned their Sparrows toward home.

"Don't worry about me, I'm just gonna see to Tana first. Can't take her with us, sadly."

"You're going to leave her here?" Kahlee said.

"Just gonna make sure she's honored properly." He waved them away, and the pair drove off.

Dak figured if he could sigh, he would let out a long one right now.

 _Who knows?_ He thought to himself. _Maybe the Light will call you home again someday._


	9. A Slow Day

**A/N: This was another interesting chapter to write, and I hope it will tide you guys over for a few days, because I'm shipping off for PAX East for the weekend, and while I will try to get some writing done during that time, I can't guarantee it will be up for a couple of days. Anyway, enjoy.**

 **8: A Slow Day**

Several days had passed since Bill and Kahlee had rescued Dak from the Daggers. They had since learned that Kretik had escaped the battle, and Dak was still rattled by the fact that the Baron had taken Tana's helmet as a trophy. Kahlee had not seen too much of him since they returned.

Yesterday, the Vanguard had sent her out into the field with Bill and Xeres to get acquainted with her new skills. Together, the three of them had dropped into Old Russia and dealt with a Fallen scavenger team operating in the old Cosmodrome. She learned how to use her new Solar powers effectively, and got a feel for her new weapons.

Today was what Bill called a "slow" day. Any Fallen activity was minimal, and Cayde's recon teams on other planets were all quiet, no activity to report. Bill walked with Kahlee to help her decide on a faction to work for.

"So, why do I need to pick one of these groups?" She asked.

"It's not necessary. It's optional contracting work. The Vanguard isn't the only group dedicated to preserving the interests of the City. And they begrudgingly allow these groups to station emissaries here. At least, that's how it used to be."

Kahlee cocked her head at him.

"These days, it's mostly a pissing contest to see which group can recruit the best Crucible fighters." Bill explained. "But that's not all it is. They offer bounties on anything from useful tech recovered in the field, to clearing an area of enemies, to simple scout work."

"Who do you choose to work for?" She asked.

"I mostly accept contracts from FWC, the Future War Cult. They believe that war is always on the horizon, and we have to be ready to defend ourselves against whatever comes our way. Would you like to pay them a visit?"

"I suppose." Kahlee gestured for Bill to lead the way.

He led her back into the hangar, which was always noticeably colder than the rest of the Tower due to the wide open blast doors and metal construction. She shivered slightly as the cool air hit her face. To her right, a pair of Guardian ships landed and were stored deep in the belly of the hangar, while their owners, who just happened to be Xanthe and Xeres, were transmatted to the deck.

Kahlee waved at them, and they waved back as they jogged to the metal stairs to meet them.

"Ladies, good to see you again." Bill offered a small wave from the hip as the sisters approached.

"I'm sure it is." Xanthe crossed her arms. "How is he?" She asked, referring to Dak.

"I saw him yesterday. He's still pretty bent out of shape, though I doubt you'll ever get him to admit to it." Bill leaned up against the wall behind him. Kahlee noticed him producing a very odd coin from a pouch, and run it through his fingers.

"Poor bastard. I wish there was something we could do for him. LOOSE THREAD!" Xeres drew a knife from her belt and cut the stray thread from her sister's cloak in one swift motion, relishing the fact that Xanthe flinched at that every time.

"Dammit! You know I hate that!" Xanthe huffed.

"Shut up, you had a loose thread, they drive me crazy."

" _You_ drive _me_ crazy, but do you see me cutting you open every time you annoy me?"

Xeres only laughed as a response. Xanthe met Kahlee's eyes, and looped her finger around next to her head, while pointing at her sister, as if to indicate that Xeres may not be completely sane.

 _As if I need her to tell me that._ She thought.

"Anyways, what are you two up to?" Bill asked the sisters, pocketing the coin.

"We just finished our recon flight over Rubicon, and let me tell you, the Sand-Eaters were _not_ too happy to see us." Xeres hopped up onto the railing to take a seat.

"They never are." Bill replied.

"No direct engagement, but they took several potshots at us with ground turrets." Xanthe said.

"And let me tell you, the Piggies can't aim for shit with those things." Added Xeres.

"Do you have anything else on your docket today?" Bill asked them.

"Nothing." Said Xanthe.

"Good, good. Then I'm gonna go take Kahlee to FWC quick, and then I have an idea to kill some time. Can you go track down Dak? And we might need a sixth. Ask around." Bill tapped Kahlee on the shoulder, pointing his thumb towards a set of stairs.

"You thinking Crucible?" Xeres asked, a glint in her eye.

Bill nodded.

"Wait, what?" Kahlee asked.

"Relax, it's gonna be fine. Come on." Kahlee walked alongside him as Xanthe and Xeres went off in search of Dak.

/

Midday at the North end of the Tower was normally a hub of activity, but the lazy day seemed to spread around quickly. As Dak sat staring into the firepit by the New Monarchy embassy, he could only hear the distant sound of Eva Levante singing to herself as she arranged the shader modules that Guardians coveted so much. Tana's death was still fresh in his head, and anger kept itself close by. He kept seeing it clear as day in his mind, all the while cursing his perfect memory.

He stared out towards the Speaker's chambers, watching as the masked man walked out onto the small bridge that connected his overwatch to the Tower, welcoming a new Titan into his midst. The Awoken woman looked as confused as any new Guardian he'd ever seen. The Speaker put a hand on her shoulder and walked her inside.

Dak's trance was broken by a muffled conversation behind him. He turned enough to see Executor Hideo being pushed aside by Cayde, who stormed down into the lounge and sat across from Dak, leaning forward.

"I told Hideo to keep visitors away." Dak mumbled, not making eye contact with his superior.

"Yeah, well that was mistake number one. Hideo is a spineless coward. A little intimidation, and he backs off." Cayde looked past Dak to stare the New Monarchy rep in the face. "Yeah, talkin' about you, big guy! Run along! Shoo!" The small man shook his head with disgust before putting on a fake smile and turning away to greet a Hunter dressed in Monarchy colors approaching his kiosk.

"What do you see in these losers, Dak? You seem more like a Dead Orbit kind of guy. I gotta say, you're killin' it with the whole 'moody, depressed loner' vibe right now."

Dak shrugged. "They have the best lounge area. Plus, Jalaal is a weirdo." He said, referring to the Dead Orbit representative begrudgingly stationed in the Tower hangar.

Cayde laughed and leaned back in his chair. "I mean, sure he's creepy and sounds like he's drunk all the time, but they're slinging some top-notch gear for their champions. You might look good in black and white."

Dak twirled his revolver on his finger. Tana was an avid supporter of Dead Orbit, fully believing that the best way to protect the people of the City was to abandon Earth. Dak had debated that point with her on countless occasions. But despite her feelings, she did her job for the City, if only to protect the people, not its leaders. She never saw eye to eye with the Vanguard, even resenting them a bit for forcing her into this life.

"Look," Cayde continued, "I know you think Tana's death was your fault, but the truth is that it just comes down to bad luck. You and I both know the chances of a normal Vandal seeing that Ghost from that far away were a million-to-one. It's just bad luck that Riksis only takes the cream of the proverbial crop for his guards, those bastards are just sharp enough to spot that kind of shit."

"If I didn't have to reload there, she might still be alive. I should have spotted Kretik immediately. How did he get there?"

"The bastard has a cloaking module. We know that now. He's a bigger coward than Hideo over there. He ambushes his prey, waits until they're distracted. He's a murderer, plain and simple."

Dak shook his head. "Look, just tell me why you're here."

The Hunter Vanguard slammed his gloved metallic fist onto the table in front of him, leaving a dent in the metal. "Because I need you back in the field! Correction: _we_ need you back in the field."

Dak looked his mentor in the eyes.

"In case you haven't realized, we are at war with the Fallen! And it's not a war we are favored to win. No matter how many of those four-armed freaks we kill, they get more. We need you out there fighting, and you can't do that if you're sitting around feeling sorry for yourself."

Cayde's tone softened. "Tana is gone. I'm sorry for that, I really am. But as long as you're still here, I need your eyes looking down the scope of your rifle, not down at the floor."

Dak shook his head again. "You're right, I know you are. But dammit, do I hate you for it."

The two Hunters laughed for a moment, and over the next hour or so, they swapped stories about their adventures in the field. Cayde's stories were much older, ranging from a secret stash in Russia to fighting strange creatures on the Moon side-by-side with a Fallen Baroness. He couldn't tell Dak what species they were, simply saying it was "classified." It was right near the end of that story that Xanthe and Xeres finally found the two.

"And then she tossed the shock pistol in between us. I thought she was offering it to me, she was too weak to stand. Ether leaked out of her wounds. I went to take the pistol, but then she pulled a blade and lunged at me with whatever strength she had left. She was too slow, I broke her arm and then opened up her throat. She didn't seem too surprised. Maybe she just didn't think she was gonna live and wanted to go down swinging. Maybe there was some other reason, I don't know…" Cayde trailed off for a moment.

"I did kill quite a few of those creepy bastards with that pistol, though."

Xanthe and Xeres offered a unified slow clap, drawing the attention of their colleagues.

"Bravo, Cayde, wonderful story." Xanthe took a seat next to him, while Xeres leaned against the back of the couch that Dak was sitting on.

"Lovely to see you ladies, as always. What can I do for you?"

"Actually, we just need your loser friend, here." Xeres slapped Dak on the shoulder. "Bill wants to put Kahlee into the Crucible, we need some extra bodies."

"I'm in." Dak rose to his feet and holstered his revolver. As the three turned to leave, they heard Cayde behind them.

"Me too." They all glanced at the elder Hunter with a look of shock and surprise.

He shrugged in response. "Just because I have to spend most of my time in this damned Tower doesn't mean I'm not still a Guardian. I've got to get out every once in a while and sling some Light around."

Silence.

"You know…unless you're afraid of getting your ass kicked by your boss?"


	10. Rumble

**A/N: Hey guys and gals, sorry its been a while since my last upload. A severe case of writer's block combined with a busy work and music schedule made it hard to get things done. I've also started writing a Sunset Overdrive story, so keep an eye out for that sometime in the future (I'm also having trouble finding my muse for it.). So, I hope the length of this makes up for it. Also, sorry if the ending kind of peters out. I just wanted to get the damn thing done and get it online. Anyway, lots of perspective shifts and some fun Crucible action await. Read and enjoy. -Doinstuff**

 **9: Rumble**

The six Guardians dropped out of FTL, and established orbit over Mars. Kahlee's heart raced as Bill's voice filled her comm channel.

"Okay gang, Shaxx has given us the all-clear for a six-man Rumble over at Blind Watch. Transmat zone locked in. All Ghosts, confirm coordinates."

The Ghosts confirmed their orders, and Kahlee was pulled from her ship and onto the planet's surface. She stood now in the middle of a rusty complex of buildings, years of red sand finding its way into any crevice that would accept it. More dust billowed in the dry wind. One by one, her companions dropped down to the surface alongside her. Cayde held a worn revolver in his hand, and carried a shotgun on his back. Even with his robotic face, Kahlee could tell that he was beyond ecstatic to be here. Xeres checked over a fancy-looking auto rifle, the word "Omolon" printed on the side.

"Just got the final check-in from Shaxx, our match will begin scoring in a few minutes. Ghosts, set auto-revive parameters for five seconds. Authorization Phi Beta Three."

"Wait a minute, are we sure this is safe?" Kahlee protested.

"Absolutely, newbie. Otherwise they wouldn't let us do it. Watch! Lemme see that!" Wresting Kahlee's hand cannon away from her, she extended the gun to her right, and without looking, fired a round into her sister's head. Everyone flinched at the shot, and Kahlee screamed in horror as Xanthe crumpled to the ground.

"What in the hell are you doing?! You really _are_ crazy!" Kahlee yelled.

"…three one-thousand, four one thousand…" Xeres counted. As she hit five, the Xanthe's Ghost, which had been hovering over her Guardian's body, flashed and whirred for a moment, and Xanthe rematerialized in front of them, unharmed, but very angry. Xeres handed Kahlee's weapon back to her.

"You are a constant pain in the ass." Xanthe said. Her sister only shrugged.

"Enough, all of you! Let's light this puppy!" Cayde stepped in the middle of the circle. "Standard Rumble rules, every Guardian for themselves, first to 25 wins." He held out his hand, and his Ghost summoned him a helmet, battered and scarred, a faded Ace of Spades painted on it. As she watched him put the helmet on, Kahlee heard Shaxx's voice in her ear.

"Alright Guardians, your starting waypoints have been uploaded to your Ghosts. Proceed to your starting point, and we'll get this underway." Kahlee's visor pinged a location not too far from here, and as she turned to leave, Bill offered her a handshake and a nod as if to say "good luck." Xanthe pushed her sister out of the way and double-jumped up to a doorway to get to her marker. Xeres approached Kahlee, and leaned in close. Through the comlink, the Hunter whispered to her.

"Just for calling me crazy… I'm gonna kill you extra hard." She pulled away from Kahlee and walked off to find her marker. Kahlee's heartbeat sped up again as she approached her start point in an old building. Mars' red sand billowed in through a bombed-out wall. As the timer in the corner of her visor counted down, the blue dots on her motion tracker disappeared, replaced by red wedges indicating the general direction of her enemies. Her mouth instantly became dry. The timer ticked down to zero, and she heard Shaxx once more.

"Time to fight, Guardians! Best of luck!" A score card appeared in the bottom right of her display. Kahlee began to move through the building, coming back out the door she originally entered. Passing by a rotating wall surrounding a giant column and going through another door into a large room. Two platforms attached to two sets of pipes adorned the left side of the room, with a bottomless cavern beneath them. A small staircase led to a narrow walkway. Kahlee stood by the top of the stairs, surveying the area.

"Val, give me hand here? Call out targets."

"Sorry, I can't help, Kahlee. In the spirit of competitive fairness, and to further test the abilities of Guardians-" Val was cut off by a stream of blue bolts cutting down the hallway. Xeres had found her, and was set on fulfilling her threat. A round cut clean through Kahlee's shoulder, and she shouted in pain as she dropped behind the wall into cover. The rain of gunfire continued, with rounds ricocheting off of walls and the ceiling.

"RATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATA!" Xeres voice filled the comm channel, mimicking her rifle's continuous report.

"You were saying?" Kahlee grimaced as she pressed her hand to the wound on her shoulder.

"Authorization Phi Beta Three prevents Ghosts from interfering in Crucible matches. I can only revive you. Otherwise, you're on your own."

Kahlee swore to herself, then with her one good arm, began charging one of her Solar flares. Not actually grenades, these charges sent out a wave of light that damaged and blinded enemies. Kahlee waited for the gunfire to stop, indicating Xeres was reloading, and she stood up and launched the flare. As it detonated, she drew her handgun and fired a couple of shots to attempt to get the Hunter to retreat. However, it only had part of the desired effect, forcing Xeres into cover while she reloaded. In a matter of seconds, the rain of bullets resumed, forcing Kahlee back down. As she fumbled with a reload, two loud shots rang out, and Kahlee looked up to see Xanthe standing over her, a smoking sniper rifle in hand. Kahlee peered around the corner and saw Xeres' Ghost floating over her body.

"I am so glad you showed up." Kahlee said as she began to rise to her feet. Xanthe pressed the barrel of the rifle to the top of Kahlee's helmet.

"You shouldn't be." She said before firing.

/

Bill slid into cover around the next corner as he heard the third shot, coming a short time after the first two. His motion tracker had shown three targets in the room. There was now only one at the top of the stairs directly to his left. Xeres hadn't seen him approach and he had been lining up a shot when she went down. He saw Xeres' Ghost disappear, a sign the Hunter had been successfully revived.

He peered around the corner to see the glint of Xanthe's rifle scope just before she fired at him. He managed to get his head back behind cover before the angry Gunslinger took it off his shoulders. Knowing her rifle only held four rounds per magazine, Bill leapt out from his cover and began to fire from the hip, forcing Xanthe behind cover. A flash to her left from Kahlee's Ghost marked another revive, and Bill started to walk up the stairs, firing from the hip. As his magazine ran dry, he pulled a grenade off his chestplate and tossed in the direction of his adversary. The grenade's magnetic properties zeroed in on Xanthe and latched onto her chestplate. He threw a two-fingered salute at her as he turned away.

"Oh, you son of a bi-" was all Xanthe could get out before the trademark double detonation of the grenade silenced her. Bill reloaded his rifle and continued up the stairs and out the door into the midday sun. The wind had picked up since their arrival, and visibility was reduced because of the sand. Bill jumped and lifted himself into the giant rotating cylinder, and paused for a moment to scan the area from down his rifle sights. As he panned from left to right, he saw another glint of a rifle scope, and then everything went black.

/

Dak squeezed the trigger.

He watched as Bill fell to the ground, flung backwards by the bullet that struck him. Dak dropped the empty magazine from his sniper rifle, having wasted three shots trying to take down Cayde a few moments earlier.

Dropping down from his perch, he slung his rifle onto his back and drew the revolver given to him years ago by Banshee-44. Hugging the wall, he quietly jogged to the ledge of the building he was on. His original target, his mentor, was passing underneath him. Dak stayed very still, not wanting to trigger Cayde's motion tracker. He waited until Cayde had passed completely, and lined up a shot. Before he could fire, however, Cayde whipped around and snapped off a shot from the hip with his own hand cannon. Dak took the shot in the upper chest, and reeled back from the impact. Cayde jumped up to meet him, but Dak was already rolling backwards to get on his feet. Standing himself upright, he fired two quick shots. One of them skipped off the concrete, but the second found its mark, striking Cayde in the head. The microexplosive inside the round detonated on contact, and his body slumped to the ground. Hearing the cocking of a rifle behind him, Dak turned to see Bill aiming at him, having revived close by.

"Payback's a bitch, huh, buddy?" Bill said.

"I guess so." Dak replied.

Bill squeezed the trigger.

/

"Oh, I am _so_ gonna kill you this time!" Kahlee heard behind her as she ran. Xeres was closing fast, knife in hand. Kahlee was running out of hallway rapidly.

"My sister isn't gonna be able to save you now! Just you and me, little Warlock!" The crazed Hunter reached back and hurled the knife. It struck Kahlee in the left arm, and the impact threw her balance off enough to force her to stumble and fall. She screamed in pain again, and pulled the blade from her arm. She threw it back in a desperation move, but Xeres swatted it away with her armored gauntlet. Shouldering her strange auto rifle, she took aim as she walked slowly towards the injured Warlock.

Kahlee rolled across the ground to her left, and as she sat up, she swung her shotgun off her back and fired a shot without aiming. Some of the buckshot hit Xeres in the hip, and she howled as she dropped her weapon. Kahlee drew her hand cannon, and took aim at her former pursuer. She fired a shot and killed Xeres quickly. In the corner of her eye, her scorecard ticked to "1." Xanthe was still on top of the leaderboard, her scorecard changing to four kills as Kahlee watched it. Cayde now had three, Dak and Bill both had two, she had now had one, and Xeres was still at zero. Kahlee figured Xeres had no concern for the score, and was just hunting her specifically.

As Kahlee loaded a replacement shell into her shotgun, Xere's voice rocked the comm channel as she was resurrected elsewhere on the battlefield.

"I'M BACK, BITCH! And I'm comin' for your floofy-jumpin' ass!" This threat was followed closely by a shotgun blast.

"Yeah, not if I can help it." Cayde's voice now took over the channel. Several seconds later, Xeres revived.

"I don't care if you _are_ my boss, you're still a giant dickhead!" Xeres fumed.

"Tell it to the scoreboard, little Light! Wait, what the shi-" Cayde mocked in return. Cayde's feed went to static as Kahlee heard what sounded like electricity just around the next corner. As she rounded the bend, she saw Xanthe engulfed in lightning, her long knife piercing Cayde's chest cavity. The elder Hunter exploded in a ball of electricity, and Xanthe turned her attention to Kahlee. Within seconds, Xanthe had closed the five meter gap between the two, and a searing shock punched through her chest.

/

After Kahlee's body had disintegrated, Xanthe used her remaining Arc energy to zip up the stairs nearby, back where Bill had killed her earlier. Entering out into the midday sun, her energy depleted, and she sheathed her Arc Blade until it charged again. Her motion tracker pinged a hostile in the room fifteen meters ahead. She prepped a Skip Grenade and used her expert agility to close the distance quicker, keeping one eye out for the glint of Dak's sniper rifle. The door ahead opened for motion, so as she approached it, Xanthe threw the grenade with a flick of her wrist. The grenade, true to its name, skipped off the ground and split into 5 child projectiles that passed through the doorway and detonated. Hearing the shout of someone in pain, she moved through the door in one fluid motion. Bill was her target, sliding across the floor, trying to avoid her. She leapt forward, trying to get within knife range. As she closed the distance, Bill rose to his full height, meeting her blade with his bracer. He brought his other fist into her gut, knocking the wind from her.

Struggling to regain her composure, she slashed blindly with her knife, catching the Titan between the plates on his chest. She heard Bill suck in air as he backpedaled. With a swift kick, Xanthe knocked Bill out the door and into the open air. As he hit the ground, Bill popped back to his feet, favoring his left leg. His gun was almost a meter behind him, and Xanthe had her weapon trained on him. Bill frowned beneath his visor, giving Xanthe a nod, signifying defeat.

Before the trigger could be pulled, however, Bill caught the outline of several approaching ships in the distance behind Xanthe. They were moving exceptionally fast, and as they got closer, Bill began to take a step back toward his rifle.

"Xanthe, behind you. Three bogeys closing fast. On your six."

"Nice try, Titan. I'm not falling for it." Xanthe aimed down her sights. Bill was finally able to make out the ship types.

"I'm serious. Three Cabal Harvesters, and they're heading right for us."

"Oh, bull- SHIT!" She turned and immediately had to roll to her left to avoid the first salvo of missiles launched from the lead craft. Bill jumped backwards, falling on top of his rifle. He groaned in pain as he scooped up his weapon and rolled through the dust and sprang upright.

"What the hell was that?!" Cayde said, through the distinct report of a shotgun.

"Cabal dropships! Must be a patrol that picked up our weapons fire on their sensors." Xanthe grabbed her side as she rose to her feet.

"Game's on hold, people! Let's deal with these assholes! What's your position, Bill?"

"Xanthe and I are on the North end of the complex. Those Harvesters are gonna be right on top of us in a minute."

/

Kahlee reappeared, ready to get some payback on Cayde, who had just ended her a few moments ago. She started to think she was getting a better handle on Crucible fighting. But to her surprise, her motion tracker showed more than five hostiles. Explosions echoed in the distance.

"Val, what's going on here?" She asked.

"I don't know. Phi Beta Three is still in effect. I think it's safe to say something is wrong, though."

Kahlee switched her comm channel to the shared frequency used by everyone. "What the hell is going on right now?" She asked as she entered the large main room where Xanthe had first killed her at the start of the match. Someone responded on the comms, but she didn't hear the reply, since her attention was immediately shifted to the massive creature standing on the first set of stairs ahead of her. It turned to face her, readying the strange weapon in its hand. Kahlee guessed she wouldn't have been able to wield such a gun with two hands, but the creature effortlessly held it in one giant, meaty hand.

The alien bellowed at her and opened fire. Ducking behind a pillar, Kahlee blind-fired her revolver several times, to no effect. The giant alien shouted in its indiscernible tongue once again. As she peered around the corner, the alien was lowering its shoulder, getting ready to charge. Kahlee took a deep breath and slid around the pillar, shotgun at the ready. With one more battle cry, the giant monster broke into a run. As the gargantuan neared her, Kahlee's heart raced. When the creature was almost upon her, she pulled the trigger.

The alien was flung backwards, its momentum stopped completely by the force of the blast. As she heard the beast hit the floor, Kahlee realized her eyes were closed. As she opened them, she saw the body lying motionless and breathed a sigh of relief. She then realized that Dak's voice was in her ear.

"Kahlee, hang on! I'm almost there!" He said in a rush.

"It's alright, I'm okay. What the hell is this thing?" She asked. Hearing the sound of a door opening to her left, she whipped around, bringing the muzzle of her weapon across Dak's path. Raising his hands, she lowered the gun.

"They're called the Cabal. Val probably mentioned them at least once. I'm guessing they don't like us trespassing on their planet. Whoa, head down!" He said as he drew his revolver. Kahlee ducked, and he fired two shots into a smaller creature running down the stairs towards them. The creature yelped in pain as it clutched the railing. Dak put one more shot into its head, and the microexplosive inside the round detonated.

"Freakin' Psions. They look small, but they suck almost as much as the big ones." He kicked the body of the larger alien for emphasis.

"So," Dak continued, "how many shots to drop this big tub of bastard, anyway? Two? Three?"

"Just one."

"One? No kidding. Takes a lot of punch to drop one of these, especially when they bull rush you."

"I guess I'm something of a matador." Kahlee joked.

"Heh, _there's_ your Matador." Dak said, tapping the barrel of the shotgun with his revolver. She looked down at the gun in her hands, thinking that it would only be fitting to give it that name.

Bill' voice crackled on the comm. "Dak, you find her?"

"Yep. She's okay. Where are you guys?"

"Xanthe and I are on the North end of the facility."

"I'm on my way to you two now. Heeerrre, Piggy Piggy Piggies!" Xeres popped onto the frequency, laughing maniacally over the sound of her rifle.

Dak shook his head. "Cayde, what about you?"

"Behind you guys now! Coming in hot!" Dak and Kahlee turned as the door behind them opened, and Cayde dove through, a hail of gunfire not far behind. Kahlee took one of the rounds in the leg. Unable to shift her weight in time, she dropped to one knee. Dak helped her out of the line of fire, then rose to his full height.

"How many?" he asked his mentor.

"Three. Two Phalanx and a Legionnaire." Cayde readjusted his hood.

"Perfect. Vera, give me Golden gun."

"Copy that." Within seconds, Dak's entire right arm was wreathed in flame, and a pistol made of pure energy appeared in his hand. Pivoting out into the doorway, Kahlee saw three bolts of light leave the barrel in quick succession. Kahlee craned her neck and managed to look past the Hunter long enough to see the Cabal soldiers disintegrate. Two massive shields, as enormous as the creatures wielding them, hit the ground with two thuds. Both shields had molten holes burned into them from the shots. The pistol in Dak's hand faded from existence.

Cayde helped Kahlee to her feet, examining the wound on her thigh. "Kahlee, get your Ghost out here."

She held out her palm, and Val appeared.

"Val, override Crucible protocols, authorization Cayde Omega Seven. Kahlee needs help."

"Override accepted. Beginning dermal regeneration." Val ran a sweeping wave of light over her leg, and soon the pain at the site subsided.

"There, you should be able to stand."

Kahlee confirmed the Ghost's statement, and picked up her shotgun. "How are the others doing?"

Bill answered. "Not great, we've still got more of these bastards outside. A little help would be appreciated!"

"Copy that. We're inbound. Let's go get 'em, kid." Cayde slapped Kahlee on the shoulder, and jogged up the stairs. Kahlee looked to Dak, who offered her a subtle nod before following his mentor. She took a deep breath and headed back into the fight.

/

Bill emptied another magazine into the wall of enemies bearing down on him. Xanthe zipped back and forth, cutting through the Cabal ranks with her blade. Bill marveled at how fast she moved, almost allowing himself to be distracted by her grace. However, Xere's constant battle cries kept him focused. Before loading another magazine into his rifle, he prepped another grenade and tossed it towards a Phalanx. The grenade stuck to its shield and exploded twice, sending the Phalanx flying backwards, and killing two more soldiers at its flank. As he ducked back behind the wall he was using for cover, Cayde, Dak and Kahlee joined the battle raging around them.

The Cabal ships had backed off a bit, keeping out of weapons range since Bill and Xeres combined their heavy weapons fire to take down one of them. The ground troops, however, were unrelenting. The gigantic aliens kept attempting to either force the trio back or try to flank them. Now that their numbers had doubled, the Guardians began to rally. The Cabal were losing ground for the first time in the engagement.

"Kahlee, remember how Ikora taught you to use Radiance? Now might be a good time to try it out. Could give us the extra power we need to push these big uglies off for good." Bill shouted over the gunfire.

She nodded and ducked behind cover. Experienced Guardians were able to call upon their powers, colloquially referred to as "Supers" without much effort. Kahlee, however, needed a bit more time and concentration to summon her ability. Taking a deep breath, she cleared her mind and reached out to call upon the Solar energy building inside her. With a brilliant flash, her body was wreathed in flame. Standing up, she turned and began launching Solar grenades at an accelerated rate. The flurry of ordnance indeed was enough to drive the Cabal back, and they began a hasty retreat. The two remaining Cabal ships recalled the surviving warriors, and made for orbit. Kahlee's five companions cheered as the Light inside her faded.

"I knew you had it in you. You'll make a fine Guardian yet." Cayde holstered his pistol.

"I think that might be enough fun for one day." Xanthe brushed red dust off of her cloak as she and her sister made their way over to the group.

"Agreed. I think we've had our fill of good old-fashioned violence." Bill placed his rifle onto his back. "Shaxx, I think we're gonna call this one a draw."

"What?! No fair! That's worse than losing!" Xeres protested, drawing a chuckle from her sister.

Dak counted up his remaining throwing knives, and looked up. "I'm gonna have to agree with the sociopath, we really should get to finish this match."

Xeres' head turned slowly to face Dak. "What… did you call me?"

"Nothing. Nothing at all." Dak avoided eye contact.

"Uh-huh… that's what I thought. Which reminds me…" Xeres turned her attention to Kahlee. "I still owe you a brutal killing! Fun!" Drawing her knife, Xeres attempted to lunge forward, but Xanthe grabbed the edge of her cloak, keeping Kahlee just out of the crazed Hunter's reach.

"Awe, c'mon sis! Just. Let. Me. Have. One. Cut!" She pleaded between swipes.

"Maybe some other time. Come on, we must get back home." Xanthe tugged her sister back.

"Fine! Whatever…" Xeres huffed as the two disappeared into thin air. She came back on the radio one last time. "We'll settle the score some other time, pretty face! Can't wait to cut it!"

Bill motioned to the sky. "We should probably bail out now. Something tells me the Sand Eaters might come back with more reinforcements."

"Agreed. Good game, Guardians, but its back to work for me." Cayde pulled his Ghost, and was transmatted away.

Bill shook hands with Dak, who soon vanished as well. "Kahlee, it's been fun. Tomorrow, Dak and I are running more recon against the Daggers. We'd like to have you round out the team. Interested?"

Kahlee hesitated. "Um, of course. If you don't mind."

"Of course not. See you back at the Tower." Bill transmatted away, and Kahlee brought up Val.

"Care to bring the ship around?"

"With pleasure."

The ride home was boring compared to her adventure on Mars. After a short flight to the Tower, Kahlee made the short walk to her quarters, and had barely stripped off her armor before she fell on the bed. She was asleep before her head hit the pillow.


	11. The Baron

**[A/N: Sorry for such a long delay between chapters, its been hard to come up with ways to advance the story. I have had this little mini-chapter in the "almost done" stage for months. I wanted to do a scene with no dialogue, and having it center around Kretik seemed like the perfect way to do that. I regret that its not as long as the previous chapter, but I'm gonna do what I can to get this story back on track ASAP. Until then, enjoy. -Doinstuff]**

 **10: The Baron**

Kretik howled in anger as he drove his hand through the comms panel, his screams echoing through the halls of the base. His upper right hand had been replaced with a mechanical analogue several cycles back, so he felt no pain.

One of his bodyguards peered into the room from his post just outside the door, and Kretik tore one of the monitors off the damaged console and hurled it toward his nosy underling. The chunk of metal and glass hit just wide of his mark and shattered against the doorframe, but it was more than enough to force the Vandal to withdraw.

The Baron fumed some more, showing complete disregard for the equipment in his office. He should have known it was unwise to trust the dimwitted Sand Eaters to eliminate the Guardians that eluded him at the Daggers outpost several days ago. The temporary alliance had cost him more time, resources and stress than Kretik had expected, and with nothing to show for it in the end.

Turning to the collection of helmets sitting on a makeshift shelf, Kretik calmed momentarily. He reached out and picked up his newest trophy, the female Human, her helmet unmistakable as that of a Hunter. Kretik turned the scarred and dented piece of armor in his hands, trying to consider a new course of action to deal with the meddlesome Guardians he so yearned to end.

He took the helmet with him as he walked to the balcony that was built onto his personal quarters. A cool wind blew across his face. Or at least, what wasn't covered by his mask. The Daggers built their lair right into the base of one of the many mountains that lined the Western coast of the Southern continent. From his perch, Kretik could see the vast ocean that lay before him. While he despised humanity and its allies, he admired the scenery that their planet offered. It was much more pleasing than anything in his home system. Though, he wouldn't dare share that secret with anyone.

Kretik cursed under his ether-laced breath, mulling over his options. Never again would he trust the Cabal. He was as foolish as a Dreg for thinking they could have completed that mission in the first place. And the salvage he had given up as a down payment had hurt him as well. And to make matters worse, the Devil Archon Riksis was growing displeased with him. The alliance with the Devils, and the subsequent protection of the Daggers, was in jeopardy.

Suddenly, a plan began to form in his mind. He laughed to himself as he signaled for his top lieutenants to enter the room, finally realizing how simple it could be. He passed orders onto his subordinates, as well as detailed instructions on bypassing the City's defenses. The lieutenants left him, and began planning the false raid. If the Guardians wanted to find him, he was going to let them.

And when they did, they would get much more than they bargained for.


	12. Reconnaissance

**11: Reconnaissance**

There was a still a thin layer of dew on every surface when Kahlee stepped outside the door to her quarters. The sun had risen, but it was still fairly early in the morning. A fresh cup of tea in her hand, she took a stroll through the Tower, breathing in the fresh air. She reached the main plaza, and leaned on the railing at the edge. She looked off to the East, watching the sunlight dance over the mountain range as clouds moved in the high altitude wind.

As she took in the view, her eyes drifted down to the steam rising off her tea. She hefted the plain steel cup to lips and sipped again. Behind her, she listened in on the various conversations taking place around her. Banshee-44 rambling on about how much he hated the temperamental nature of the power cells in fusion rifle he was working on. A very bored Titan nodding along, desperate for an excuse to rescue his weapon, and leave the old Exo to his other projects. The booming laughter of Lord Shaxx as he welcomed a new Hunter into the Crucible. The robotic frame in charge of bounty tracking, and the fireteam of Guardians picking up targets from it. A new voice entered the mix behind her, a very familiar one.

"Kahlee, good morning." She turned to see Bill approaching, in full armor, minus his helmet. A warm smile was across his face.

"Hi, Bill. Same to you." She leaned back against the railing, a cool breeze running across the back of her neck. "Something tells me you're not just here to take in the view with me."

He snickered. "What gave me away?"

She gestured to the datapad in his left hand. "That has the Vanguard's seal on the back. My guess says it contains orders for the two of us."

"Close. This is a datapad from the Vanguard with orders for the _three_ of us _._ " He tossed her the pad, and she caught it with one hand.

"Three of us? What are you talking about?"

"Zavala likes the way you and I work together. He also likes the way Dak and I work together, and would like to continue that partnership. But you and he don't have much experience together. And with Tana gone, Dak is a solo Hunter, and the Commander knows he works best in a team. The logical step is to merge the three of us into a Fireteam."

Her white eyes skimmed over the info in the datapad, and her heart began to beat faster. Her name lay underneath Bill and Dak's, and above that, two words: "Fireteam Orion."

Below the personnel list, she read the orders detailed inside. "Venus?" she asked, looking up.

"The Daggers and Devils aren't our only problems when it comes to the Fallen. The House of Winter is stirring up trouble in the Ishtar Sink, and Zavala wants us to investigate. Dak is already on the scene, running recon. We tried to get Xanthe and Xeres to back us up, but Cayde has them back in the Cosmodrome, keeping an eye on the Devils."

Bill leaned up against the railing next to her. He paused for a moment to listen in on Banshee's fusion rifle rant. The old gunsmith had just become frustrated with something in the gun's inner workings, and had taken a quite sizable hammer to the weapon to vent his anger. The Titan pleaded for the Exo to relent, but it was no use. The fusion rifle was destroyed, and Banshee was now recommending a shotgun as a replacement.

"The hell were you doing with a fusion rifle in the first place? Garbage weapons, all of 'em." The gunsmith fumed.

Bill laughed out loud, shaking his head as he turned to his left to look back at Kahlee. "I'm sorry, I just love it when he gets angry. It's comedy gold."

Kahlee joined in on the laughter. "I have to admit, it's pretty entertaining." She looked up into Bill's eyes, and both of their expressions sobered. Even with the scars on his face, and the bad eye, she found his features to be striking. Bill seemed to notice she was staring, and broke the silence.

"You… wanna take a picture, or something?" he asked.

Her blue cheeks turned purple as she blushed and turned away, knocking her teacup off of the railing and over the side, causing it to fall several hundred feet to the base of the Tower. Kahlee could care less, frantically apologizing for what could only be considered gawking. "I'm sorry. It's just… you've been a huge help since I got here, and an even better friend. It's just that, I never noticed… I'm sorry, I… guess I'm just getting a little ahead of myself."

Bill put a hand on her chin, and gently guided her gaze back to him. "It's alright." He gave her the same warm smile he had given her the day they met. Then the two Guardians moved closer to one another, and for one brief moment, they kissed.

And then Kahlee put her guard back up, breaking away from him. "I'm sorry, Bill. I know this may not be what you want to hear, but this isn't the time or place for… us."

He rubbed the back of his neck. "As much as it pains me, I have to agree. We have bigger things to worry about. Just… a moment of weakness."

Kahlee realized his hands were still holding hers. She released her grip. "Maybe someday in the future, the time will be right, but we can't let our feelings get in the way."

"Well, for now… friends?" Bill extended his hand. She shook it.

"Friends." She replied. "Now then… um… where were we?"

"Right." Bill stepped away from the railing, walking towards the hangar, motioning for her to follow. She jogged two steps to match his pace, summoning Val to have her armor and weapons brought to her. Once they had reached their ships, Bill continued the briefing.

"Like I said, Dak is already planetside, so we're on our way to meet him." He said as the hangar frames signaled their launch clearance. The two ships roared to life, and burst out of the hangar in formation. They cleared the upper atmosphere and laid in their coordinates for FTL travel.

"As not to give ourselves away, we're going to drop in a couple clicks away and leg it out the rest of the way."

"We can't use our Sparrows?" She asked.

"I wouldn't. The engines might give us away. On foot will be easiest for avoiding detection."

"Kahlee, we're ready to engage warp drive." Val said, nestled in his cradle between her control yokes.

"Then let's do it. See you planetside, Bill."

The stars ahead of her stretched into long rods of light, and she felt the entire ship hum as it jumped into faster-than-light travel.

/

"Knock knock."

"Please… not this again." Vera said, annoyed.

"Come on V, I'm bored." Dak muttered, not taking his eye away from the sniper scope. His sights were trained on the head of a Vandal scout, on a guard post a few meters away from the rest of the camp. The Vandal, like the rest of the Fallen on Venus, was garbed in a vibrant blue, unlike the Daggers on Earth, who wore a blue so faded and drab, it was almost grey. That color provided the Daggers with excellent camouflage in the dull, rocky mountain range they called their home. And against the yellows, greens and greys of the Venetian terrain, that bright blue had the opposite effect for the Winter House.

"The least you could do is humor me."

"I've _been_ humoring you. All afternoon." She shook herself from side to side, her shell forming around her "eye" in a disapproving look.

"Is it still the afternoon? I can never tell here. The day/night cycle is all kinds of fucked up here."

"Language." Vera scolded. Dak turned away from his scope, and stared at his floating companion.

"Seriously? Did you really just say that?" He shook his head and turned back to his rifle. He soon became bored of following the Vandal back and forth on his pathetic little two-meter wide tower, and began scanning the landscape, taking in the view while keeping an eye out for enemy snipers, an old force-of-habit. His makeshift hunting blind was nestled in between two strange blueish-green trees, which bore little to no resemblance to flora found on Earth. The alloy baseplate that spanned from one tree to the other was covered in netting that had been coated in moss, foliage, and a little Venetian mud. Several layers of vines were strewn over the top of the netting, hanging in front of Dak, and masking his presence, while still leaving him a pair of small openings to look through with his sniper rifle, which had also been camouflaged. The entire blind was almost two hundred meters away from the Winter base, but he was only about five meters off the ground in his trees.

His rifle's muzzle scanned the mountain ridge behind the base again. It was an exceptionally well-crafted weapon christened "Stillpiercer", a gift from Banshee several years ago. It was based on a Hakke design, painted a drab green, and had an integral suppressor. The scope also linked to his helmet's motion tracker, and it would display in the corner of the scope when he was aiming. The top of the scope was netted, and the glass that made the final lens was coated in a special resin that reduced any glint in the distance, should he be facing the sun. All in all, it was perfect for this situation.

"Like I was saying, V… Knock knock."

The Ghost slumped, showing defeat. "Fine… who's there?"

"Interrupting Fallen."

"Interrupting Falle-"

"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" He yelled at full volume, though no audio actually escaped his helmet.

"Gah, I knew it! I knew it was coming!" Vera fumed, but Dak barely heard her over the sound of his own laughter. Suddenly, his radio crackled in his ear. Bill's voice soon followed. "Need some company, buddy?"

He chuckled. "That depends. You like knock-knock jokes?"

Bill's laughter filled his helmet. "Only the good ones."

Vera jumped onto the comm. "Then you're out of luck."

Dak transmitted his coordinates to Bill. "Come on over. The party's just getting started."

"Copy that. Just touched down, we're on foot, ETA 10 minutes, if we hurry." Bill said.

"Stay safe, there were a few Pike scouts that left a few minutes ago. I'd try to avoid them rather than fight. The Fallen might get suspicious if they don't return or check in."

"Noted. Kahlee, let's move."

/

Bill closed the comm channel. "He's not that far. Let's take things slow, and keep your eyes and ears open for those Pike scouts." Bill crouched briefly, examining the ground beneath them. Less than a meter away, a pool of blue, bubbling liquid belched and spewed its contents around the area, and more steam rose from the epicenter. Kahlee instinctively took a few steps back, but Bill didn't move. Several small globs of the liquid spattered his armor, sizzling lightly. He still paid it no mind.

"Doesn't look like this path is taken too often by repulsor craft, so we should be in the clear."

"How can you tell?" She cocked her head at him quizzically.

"All the dirt and debris in the center of the trail is still very much undisturbed, except for maybe some fauna or insect life. That means Pikes or Sparrows haven't been through here in a while. If this was a more traveled patrol route, all this loose crap would be displaced in a wake-like pattern." He stood, wiping the dirt from his gloved hands, and swiping away some of the blue liquid that splashed on him.

"Where did you learn that?"

"Dak and Tana. Well, mostly Tana. Recon isn't my strong suite, so she offered to teach me a few things, in case I ever needed it. One of the many things I'm thankful for, when it came to our friendship." As the two of them started walking again, Bill reached into one of the pouches on his sash belt, and produced the same coin Kahlee had seen him fiddle with in the Tower hangar before their Rumble game. He held it up so she could get a better look at it.

"She actually gave me this when I was a Newborn. She and Dak have been Guardians much longer than I have, and they kind of took me under their wing when I first got to the City. Cee and I had been on our own for almost two months at that point, so I was exhausted, broken, and quite terrified by the time I saw the Traveler."

"Really?" She asked.

"Really. Cee found me in the ruins of North America, in the Northeastern region. We were so far from the City, with no ship, I didn't even think it was real for a long time. I had begun thinking this little robot was taking me for a ride, you know?"

"I guess I should consider myself lucky." Kahlee said as she took her shotgun off her back. "I was relatively close to the City when Val found me."

"Compared to where I was, you were right by the front door." Bill also took his weapon in hand, checking the safety and fire mode switches. "But that's something I'd rather not go into."

She looked at him, wondering why he had put up his defenses so abruptly. "It must be hard to talk about. Your past life, I mean."

He looked to his left, to face her. "Do you remember anything about yourself before all this?"

"It's still not very clear. I definitely died during the Collapse. I remember panic, people screaming and running for their lives. I… I think I was some kind of fighter. There was a rifle nearby when Val discovered me. Broken beyond repair." She paused, her memory of the incident fleeting.

"That's… all I can remember." Her voice trailed off. Bill put a hand on her shoulder.

"It's alright. Most of us can't remember much about our pre-Guardian days. Exos can't remember anything at all, as a matter of fact. Because of all the memory wipes."

"I see. Is that why Banshee is so…" She twirled a finger around her ear, miming "crazy."

"That would be it. See, you _are_ catching on." A blip suddenly appeared on their motion trackers, and the faint hum of an engine loomed in the distance.

"Patrol! Get out of the road!" Bill snapped, as he and Kahlee jumped in opposite directions, Bill dove behind a crop of rocks, Kahlee behind some dense foliage, crawling with Venetian insect life. Soon, the massive hoverbike, painted the same in the same vibrant blue as the garb of its rider, came swooping around the bend, closely followed by two wingmen. The Pikes slowed down and came to a stop not far from them. Kahlee peered through the bushes at Bill, who was doing the same through a gap in the rocks. He held one finger up to the chin of his helmet, signaling her to keep quiet.

The lead Pike rider stepped off his vehicle, and unshouldered his rifle, a sleek, menacing design. She heard the sound of the rifle powering up. The pilot was not a Dreg, like the first scout she encountered, he was a Vandal. She noticed his lower right hand was wrapped around a knife, and the creature's head moved on a swivel as it scanned the area, looking for any signs of trouble.

The alien barked a few phrases to his wingmen, and the two bikes sped off, leaving their comrade behind. The Vandal began to walk around the area, not looking too carefully for anything, it seemed more of just a cursory search, than an actual suspicion. After what felt like an eternity, the Pike rider shrugged its upper arms, replaced its weapon on its back, and mounted up. The Pike sped off into the distance, and the two Guardians emerged from their hiding places.

"Do you think he made us?" She asked, brushing the mud from her knees.

"Unlikely, he wouldn't have sent away his buddies if he had suspected he was being watched. But the Winters have upped their patrol frequency, it seems. We should get to Dak before those riders return to base. Come on, we're not far." He and Kahlee broke into a jog, eager to reach their friend.

/

After a few dull minutes of watching and waiting, the silence broken only by more terrible jokes, Dak rolled over onto his side at the sound of rustling behind him. Bill climbed up the log that he had set up earlier as a makeshift ladder up to his stand, followed closely by Kahlee.

"What kept you?" He asked. Bill laid his rifle down next to Dak and took a similar prone position.

"Sorry. Pike patrol almost intercepted us. Had to evade."

"That's tactical speak for 'we hid for a while.'" Kahlee smirked behind her visor, sitting cross-legged behind the two elder Guardians. Bill started talking, but she didn't hear what he was saying. She was taking in what scenery she could see from the few gaps in their concealment. Apart from the Fallen infesting it, the area they were in was quite beautiful, given the chaos distance. Far off behind the Fallen camp, a volcano was in the midst of a minor eruption, spewing a similar blue substance they had encountered on the way over to Dak. Several small meteors streaked across the sky, leaving orange contrails that almost blended in to the yellow sky behind them.

The sound of snapping fingers drew her attention back to the task at hand. "Kahlee, are you listening?" Bill said, motioning for her to lie down next to them.

"Hmm? Yes, sorry. I got carried away. I never got to visit Venus before the Collapse."

"It's alright. Now come on, we've got notes to take."

She took up position next to him, lying flat on her stomach. Since her weapons relied on iron sights rather than scopes, she used her eyes to execute a series of commands on her visor's HUD, increasing the optical zoom. She brought her magnification up to 4x, the max allowed by her helmet systems. It wasn't the best, but it gave her a much better view of what was going on. She assumed Bill was doing the same, and having his auto rifle trained on the camp was more for show than anything else. His weapon was deadly, but only effective up to 75 meters. And the distance between them and the Fallen camp was almost triple that distance. Dak's sniper rifle, however, could easily reach the base, and most likely anything beyond it.

"So, what do we do now?" She asked.

"We wait for our opportunity." Bill replied.

"For what?"

"To complete our mission." Dak said, rising from his prone position.

"That's why I wanted you to pay attention. We're waiting for dusk, when the Fallen crawl back into their holes for the night, and the guards will be minimal." Bill ran over the plan while Cee sprung to life beside him.

"Do you remember the drive Cee mentioned he was cracking the first day we met?" Bill asked her as a disk materialized in his hand.

"Vaguely."

"Well, he finished on the flight over here. It contains detailed blueprints of the base, as well as the guard shift rotations. Dak will need to know this when he sneaks in."

"Sneaks in?"

"Yep. It's a heist, baby!" Dak said, leaving his normal weapons behind, in favor of a semi-auto rifle, and small pistol, both outfitted with suppressors. He also had more than the usual compliment of throwing knives on his belt. He checked over the new guns, sitting on the back end of the stand, his legs over the side.

"What about us?" She asked.

"You're my covering fire." He replied. Bill had also risen from his prone stance, as Cee also made a black Omolon sniper rifle appear out of thin air. Bill caught it as it fell, and handed it to her.

"I rented this from Banshee for you. I'm going to take Dak's rifle and move to another location nearby. You'll stay here. Once we're both in position, we take out the night guards, and watch for any signs of trouble on the exterior of the camp." Bill picked up Dak's rifle and attached it to his back. Dak had taken off the Cloud Walker cloak he had recovered from Tana, and Vera had given him a matte black cloak to replace it with.

Kahlee felt the weight of the rifle in her hand, and stammered a bit as she looked up at Bill. "I-I've never shot one of these before."

"It's easy, just point-and-click." Dak said as he fastened the stealth cloak around his neck. "That model of rifle has smart-targeting built into the scope, so it'll compensate for wind, elevation and operator movement. Doesn't guarantee a hit, just takes most of the guesswork out of aiming." He dropped the full five meters off the perch, and landed without a sound. "Normally, I'd be the one doing the cover fire, but I can move faster and quieter than you two, so we just have to roll with it."

Kahlee looked through the vines at the sky. The sun was just barely above the volcano in the distance, and they were losing light fast. "Well, then I guess we should get started." She looked over the rifle, noticing there was a half-orb of orange liquid swishing around on the left side of the weapon's frame. As Val gave her a rundown of the specifications, she realized it was the ammunition. Omolon weapons relied on liquid metal, called ferrofluid, which was forced out of the barrel into a hard projectile each time the trigger was pulled. And she had learned that several varieties of weapons used by Guardians had been programmed to cause damage analogous to the elements of Light used by their operators. This particular weapon caused Solar damage, as indicated by the color of the ferrofluid.

Bill was beginning his descent down the makeshift ladder. She engaged the rifle's bipod, and then turned back to look at him.

"Wait, what are we here to retrieve?" She asked him.

"A data drive stolen from a Guardian outpost some time back. We've been planning to get it back for some time, but we were waiting on the data Cee just provided."

"Well, then why did we launch this mission before we had the info we needed?"

"Because we got wind the Fallen were close to cracking our drive. So, we had to come here ASAP and hope that Cee could finish his work before tonight."

Cee shook with a bit of pride. "I'd like to think I came through in the clutch. No need to thank me. Being awesome is just what I do."

"Yes, it is." Bill turned toward Dak and extended his hand. Dak reached out and shook his hand by the wrist, a show of comradery between the two. Bill turned back to Kahlee and threw her a two-fingered salute off the edge of his V-shaped visor. She waved back, and swallowed the lump in her throat as she put herself prone again, and nestled the sniper rifle against her shoulder. She put her eye behind the scope, and began watching.


	13. Recall

**12: Recall**

The Dreg barely had time to turn around before Dak put a round into its skull. The specialized ammo he was using was designed to shatter on impact, containing the fragments within whatever it hit. This prevented the bullet from creating an exit wound and striking a surface behind the target, reducing the noise of the kill. And the mess.

Dak leapt forward and caught the body as it fell, making sure not to cause a disturbance as he gingerly escorted the corpse to an alcove to hide it. Picking up the spent shell casing to minimize evidence of his visit, he examined the holographic map of the base provided by Cee.

"Vera," he said, summoning his Ghost, "where to?" His enhanced eyes scanned the corridor ahead of him, looking for any potential signs of trouble. The interior of the base was dimly lit, most likely conserving a limited power supply by only running emergency lighting at night. The walls of the passage he was standing in had a series of pipes running along the ceiling, dripping a stinking liquid from various leaks and breaches. Dak was thankful that he didn't have a sense of smell, and couldn't help but wondering how the Fallen could live in such conditions.

Vera guided him down the left passageway of the 3-way intersection ahead of them. This led them down another narrow hall.

"Whatever passes for a server room in this base is at the end of this next passage," Vera told him. He slid the magazine out of his pistol, checking his remaining rounds. Three bullets were missing already, but he had plenty more to spare. A noise behind him caused Dak to whip around, his cloak furrowing as he unsheathed a throwing knife and hurled it end over end towards the source of the noise. The knife struck seemingly open air, de-cloaking the Dreg that had been sneaking up behind him, a blade of its own in hand.

The knife just barely missed its mark, catching the Dreg in the throat as opposed to the skull. The alien let out a gurgling screech as ether spewed out of the fresh wound. With the last of its strength, it leapt toward him, the howling calls filled with equal parts rage and agony. Dak sidestepped the Dreg, and shifted all his weight onto his back foot, forcing the alien to the floor with a one-handed shove. He shot the Dreg in the back of the head as he broke into a run.

"I think I may have been compromised." He said on the team's comm channel. Alarms throughout the base began blaring.

"Yep... definitely been compromised. Vera, how the hell did that guy bypass the motion tracker?!" He yelled at his Ghost as she popped to life beside him and maintained her flight speed to keep pace with Dak.

"It must have been some kind of cloaking device!"

"Must be new, no way standard cloaking shrouds can make them invisible to radar." He lowered his shoulder and bowled over a Vandal emerging from a room on his left. The Vandal's weapon clattering to the floor, and he heard bones snapping as he made contact.

As he continued his sprint, he could hear the Vandal howl in pain between the alarm klaxons. A third series of sounds began emanating behind him- weapons fire. Bolts of Arc energy lanced toward him as the base guards were entering the passage. Several of the bolts washed against his personal shields, but the barrier held firm long enough for him to dive into the server room and seal the door.

Whipping around to face into the room, he slung the compact semi-auto rifle into his hands and dropped the Dreg taking cover behind a stack of crates by the computer terminal. He quickly scanned the room, looking for the stolen data drive, as well as any other possible exits. The Fallen had reached the door, and were furiously trying to open it. He saw the drive sitting in a slot of a terminal, and he yanked it free.

"Did they crack it?" Dak asked as he let Vera fly over to the computer. She scanned it for a few seconds.

"No. The research is safe." She replied.

"Wait... 'research?' I thought these were command codes." Rapid banging on the door diverted his attention.

"We're putting a pin in this. Vera, scramble the door codes, and repeat the process every thirty seconds until I find a way out of this shit."

"Confirmed- hang on a second, a transmission is coming through from the Vanguard. Protocol Seven-Five Gamma."

"The hell does that mean?" he asked her.

"Stand by for emergency transmat." Vera responded, and before Dak could even protest, he was back on board his ship.

/

"Get down there and get those civilians into cover!" Zavala barked as he fired his weapon again, dropping two more hostiles in the Tower courtyard. The two Guardians fighting alongside him left his flank and made their way to the lifts that went down to the City itself.

The City was under assault by the Fallen. A single ketch had dropped out of warp above the Tower, and although the Vanguard immediately anticipated it to open fire on the city, it instead launched several Skiffs loaded with ground troops. Most of them made their way into the City itself, but several attacked the Tower directly. Mass panic had spread throughout the general population, but Zavala was thankful the casualty reports he had received were minimal. The Guardian response was swift, but the Fallen had used the element of surprise to great effectiveness.

"Cayde, Ikora, we need to initiate emergency recall! I'm in the central plaza now. I am on my way to the Vanguard chambers, meet me there." He drew his sidearm and dispatched a Dreg charging him from behind.

As he made his way down the stairs leading to the Vanguard chambers, another Fallen dropship began unloading troops. As the old Titan turned and readied his weapon again, several large bursts of weapons fire cut through the reinforcements. Zavala looked to his left to see Banshee, behind a massive machine gun braced against his table, waving for him to continue onward.

The Vanguard gave him a nod, and he jogged down the stairs. As he reached the hall that led to his chambers, he saw Shaxx behind cover at his desk, a shotgun trained on the entryway.

"Banshee and I will give you cover fire. Do what you have to, sir." He said as Zavala passed.

Reaching the terminal near his end of the table, Zavala removed his battered helmet and set it down beside the computer. His Ghost sprang to life beside him, watching over his shoulder as Zavala entered his portion of the access codes to order all Ghosts to recall their Guardians back to the City in case of emergency.

As he finished his upload, the unmistakable surging sound of Skiff engines drew his attention directly behind him. He whipped around to see a Skiff hovering just behind the window at the rear of the room. Blue bolts of Arc energy ripped through the glass, sending shrapnel flying towards him. Zavala's armor protected him for the most part, but his bare face endured several new cuts. Shielding his eyes from the shards of glass, he reached for his helmet, but could not find it through the dust. It had been blown off the table during the initial shots.

The Skiff began dumping troops into the room, and he charged headlong to meet the first wave. Casting his weapon aside, he called forth his own Arc power, and leapt forward, slamming the ground with both fists. A shockwave made of lightning traveled out from the epicenter in all directions, vaporizing the Fallen on contact. He rose from his knees, his breathing heavy. As the drop doors on the rear of the Skiff opened to drop another wave, he let out a warrior's yell, ready to challenge whatever came at him.

He never got the chance. From behind him, a giant, pulsing projectile of Void Light rocketed towards the Skiff, striking the crew compartment right as the Fallen began to emerge. The incoming attackers disintegrated, and the Skiff's hull didn't fare any better. The armor plating buckled and warped under the impact of the projectile, and it began a slow, lazy list away from the Tower, smoke and flame belching from its wounds. Zavala turned once more to see Ikora standing at the other end of the room, a violet glow still surrounding her. Cayde was further down the hall, running to catch up, a blade of pure lightning in his hands. He threw up his hands in disappointment when he saw the fighting was over.

"Dammit, I missed the fun stuff." He held up the sparking and cracking knife. "This thing takes a long time to charge, y'know? I'd rather not waste it all the time." He waited patiently for the knife to return to normal before sheathing it on his belt.

"I'm sure we haven't seen the last of the Fallen." Zavala nodded. "It's safe to say they'll be back."

"Then we must act quickly." Ikora ran past her colleagues to the computer terminal Zavala was using. It had taken several hits during the engagement, but aside from a cracked screen, it still functioned. Entering her part of the code, she gave way to Cayde to allow him to complete the recall.

"Protocol Seven-Five Gamma initiated. All Guardians: return to The City immediately," The City loudspeakers began blaring the message, and the comm towers began transmitting it across the solar system.

Zavala patrolled the room, his eyes on the entrance for any sign of more enemies, but the constant weapon fire from Banshee and Shaxx told him his fears may have been unfounded. He kicked one of the dead Vandals over onto its back, and discovered no House markings on its clothing, though the color of the tattered garments was blood-red.

"Devils? Impossible. Riksis would never send as few troops into the City as we're seeing." Zavala knelt down next to the creature, and tore back some of the cloth, revealing a drab blue underneath.

"The Daggers? Is Kretik _that_ stupid?" Cayde asked, looking over Zavala's shoulder.

"Doubtful. They have to be after something. Why else would they send such a small force, dressed in colors of another House?" Ikora joined Cayde, reloading her shotgun as he spoke.

Zavala leaned back onto his haunches for a moment, then rose to his feet. The weapons fire from down the hall had slowed, and Shaxx was standing in the doorway.

"They're starting to retreat, Commander. I'll let Banshee have his fun while I go check on the civilians still in the Tower." Shaxx said, his machine gun barrel still smoking. The large man turned tail and headed away from the Vanguard chambers.

None of this made any sense to Zavala. He turned his gaze toward the holographic display of Earth, showing the locations of incoming Guardian ships en route to defend the City per Protocol Seven-Five Gamma. One set of blips in particular caught his eye; three ships flying in formation, their entry vector coming from the direction of Venus. A circle surrounded the formation, with the word "Orion" above it. Zavala's eyes widened.

"Get Orion on the comms, now!" he barked. Cayde immediately began to punch up their frequency.

"Zavala, you don't think the Daggers might be after that research, do you?" Ikora asked, her otherwise calm voice cracking slightly. The display next to them began to shift to the image of Bill, Orion's de facto Fireteam Leader.

"If they are, we can't let them have it," the Commander replied.

"Orion here, what's going on, sir?" Bill asked. "Why did Seven-Five Gamma get intitiated?"

"Did you recover the data?" Zavala asked.

"What?"

"Answer me! Is the research data with you?"

In the cockpit of his ship, Dak eyed his Ghost. She avoided his gaze, but he could tell that information was being withheld from them.

"V, what do you know?" he asked.

"That's… classified."

"V?" He was only met with silence. He shook his head, leaving his Ghost to her obvious guilt, and focused on staying in formation as the three ships approached the City. Below the Traveler, explosions rocked the streets, A Fallen Ketch was perched just off the outer wall, though her guns remained silent. Several other Guardian ships streaked by their formation, weapons firing at the Skiffs making runs on the City. Dak was surprise by how few the Fallen were in number. This clearly was not the work of the Devils; their fleet was more than a single ship.

"Sir, Dak-12 here. What the hell is going on? Vera told me we were after Vanguard command codes, she never mentioned research."

"Guardians, answer the question! Do you have it?!"

Vera spoke up. "Yes, Commander. I have it."

After a brief pause, Zavala's voice returned. "You three have to leave. Now. There is a facility on the other side of the mountains to the North. Bring the data to the Warlocks there. This attack is more than it seems. The Daggers are looking for something. And I would wager your Ghost might have it."

"Yes sir. But, might I ask what we have on our hands? I don't like being blind out here." Bill asked.

"That information will be revealed to you when you reach the facility. Now go. Zavala out. With that, the comm died.

Bill removed his helmet and sank deeper into the pilot's chair. He let Cee draw up a flight plan to their new destination, but his blood ran cold. He and his team were now in the dark, carrying information that could be dangerous in the wrong hands. He couldn't shake the feeling of dread his new orders gave him.

He accessed the Vanguard archives, pulling up the facility on his datapad. His body listed to the right slightly, as Cee's new course pulled his ship to port. He ignored the momentum shift, and focused on getting as much information about this place as he could. Unfortunately, most of the intel on the base was classified, even the name of the location itself was covered by a black bar. The only bit of information he could glean from the file was that their research had been focused on the Traveler. This was unsurprising to Bill, there were several such facilities that he knew of. What struck him as odd was how well classified this particular location was, and how remote it was compared to others like it.

"Something about this doesn't seem right, but what choice do we have?" Kahlee asked over the comm.

"We could always stay and fight." Dak responded.

"Not an option, Dak," Bill stifled the conversation. "Kahlee is right. We don't have much of a choice. This attack doesn't look as bad as it was made out to be, there _has_ to be something going on that we don't know about just yet." Bill took manual control of his ship, bringing himself and the team above the clouds to cover their movement.

"But I promise you guys, we're going to find out."


	14. Peak 38

13: Peak 38

As he turned his ship down below the cloud line, Bill caught sight of his destination. A lone building, constructed centuries ago by a nation long forgotten, perched on a plateau halfway up one of the mountains that rose from the ground like teeth of a great beast. The outer walls were weathered and worn, and any paint on the outside had been stripped away by wind and rain and snow, leaving only slate gray stone in its place.

Behind the mountain, a storm was brewing several kilometers out. Bill hoped to be long gone before it hit, but he was prepared to fly through or around it if need be. He passed the landing site, circling around to search for any signs of trouble on the ground, ordering Cee to scan the surrounding area while doing so. As he brought his ship around toward his entry vector, he beheld the Traveler from afar, still in its silent vigil. To Bill's relief, he did not see many plumes of smoke rising from his farsighted view of the City.

 _Either we're too far away, or the damage isn't as bad as I feared._ He checked the results of the scans taken by Cee and his ship's sensors, and found nothing out of the ordinary. He let out the air he was holding in his lungs. He began dropping altitude, making towards a suitable landing area.

"Alright guys, I think we're in the clear here. Hailing the facility now." He said, switching over to an open frequency and transmitting a friendly greeting. He was initially met with static, which did not fill him with confidence, but after a few seconds, it cleared up.

"Unknown craft, identify yourselves," a male voice, slightly high-pitched and raspy, responded to his opening message.

"This is Fireteam Orion. We've been sent here under orders from the Vanguard. We have the data that was taken from you. Requesting permission to land."

A few moments of silence met him. Bill pulled out of his descent, and held his ship hovering over the landing zone. There was no proper flight deck or landing pads to speak of, just a flat stretch of the plateau barely large enough to accommodate the three Guardians. He was confident in Dak's ability to land without hitting anything, as well as his own, but Kahlee had never manually landed her ship before. Normally, a Guardian would simply transmat out of their ship, and allow his or her Ghost to land the craft, but Kahlee was still technically in training, and Bill had decided to use this as a learning experience for her.

The comms crackled to life again. "Hmph. Fireteam Orion, you are cleared to land," the unknown voice replied to his request at last. "Make it quick."

"Acknowledged, Base. Orion out." He raised his brow at the rudeness of their host, but shook it off as he dipped his portside wing, and began to descend again.

"Okay team, we're gonna land manually. Kahlee, I know you've never done this before, so you land first, we'll squeeze in afterwards." Bill said.

"As ordered," she replied, trying to keep her voice steady. Val gave her a reassuring "nod" as she pushed her control stick forward, dipping the nose of her ship toward the bare rock of the landing zone. As she got closer to the surface, she leveled off and engaged the repulsorlifts that kept the ship off the ground. As she killed the engines, she saw Bill landing to her right, Dak to her left. The three ships fit snugly on the plateau, with a little bit of clearance on all sides.

Kahlee breathed a sigh of relief, and she reached up to pop the environmental seals on her helmet. She lifted off her head and rested it on a panel next to her pilot chair.

 _Hopefully, I won't need it._

"Val, take us out." she smiled at her Ghost.

"You got it." In an instant, she was outside. The wind hit was blowing quite hard, but although it was cold, it did not sting. However, since it was coming from her left, it blew her hair into her face. She slightly recoiled as a lock of it found its way into her mouth. She spit and sputtered as she tried to turn away from the wind, drawing laughter from her teammates. She quickly pulled her hair back and away from her face, mortified. Her face turned a deep purple from embarrassment.

Bill came over and gave her a pat on the shoulder. She brushed more of her white hair behind her ear, and straightened up.

"Guess I should have seen that coming." she shrugged.

"Happens more than you think to people with long hair, don't worry about it." Bill reassured.

"You should see the new Hunters the first time their cloak gets wrapped around their head in the wind." Dak said, walking over to join the other two. "As a matter of fact, the first time it happened to me, Tana said she 'laughed until she thought she was going to throw up,' as she put it." he laughed a bit more, but he slowly trailed off, and although his robotic face couldn't actually portray any sadness, the orange lights in his eyes faded to almost nothing. "Man, I miss her..."

"Sorry," Kahlee said, but before she could say anything else, the sound of a throat being cleared turned the attention of the three Guardians to the disgruntled Awoken man in disheveled Warlock robes hobbling down the front stairs of the facility.

"Not one more step forward, 'Guardians!' Not until I get a good look at you!" The man shouted as he continued his slightly off-balance gait down the steps. As he reached the base of the stairs, Bill noticed laser sights trained on himself and his teammates. At the entrance, a large set of metal double doors, he could see their origin points: three Hunters, each in a crouch, sniper rifles trained on the team.

"Seems like we're all on the same side here. Why the armed response?" Bill asked, his hands raising into the air above his head.

"If you are who you _say_ you are, you have nothing to fear. Now hold still, dammit!" The man walked straight up to Bill, and began circling him. He grabbed at the Titan mark around Bill's waist and stooped down to examine the double-headed eagle embroidered on the sash.

"Hmmm... one of Zavala's, eh? Good Titan. Bad temper." He tapped the back of Bill's knee with his foot, almost causing the younger man to buckle, but he held himself upright.

"Strong. Good. Yes, fine. Now, onto _you_ , my metal friend!" He shifted his gaze over to Dak, but kept his hands to himself this time.

"Hmm... curious. 12 reboots, eh? Uncommon for an Exo as young as you." He said as he circled the Hunter.

"Wait, how did you know that?" Dak asked.

"I didn't. Not until now." The Awoken replied, not making eye contact. He made another once over, stopping to examine the hole in Dak's cloak, a grim reminder of Tana's fate at the hands of Kretik. Satisfied, he finished his peculiar examination of Dak, and slowly eyed Kahlee.

"Your turn, my dear Warlock," he said, as he almost slithered in her direction. His mannerisms as he approached changed from mildly amusing quirkiness, to an almost terrifying yet controlled insanity. He made one full circle around Kahlee, and then stopped directly in front of her. He reached up and grasped both of her shoulders, and she quickly discovered his gloved left hand was actually mechanical, and he dug in much harder with that hand. She slightly winced from the pain, but he shook her to bring her attention forward to him.

"Look at me, girl!"

"That's enough! Leave her alone!" Bill shouted, taking a step towards the pair, but the two laser sights moved from Dak and Kahlee to him, stopping his advance.

"Calm yourself, Titan. She will not be harmed." He gazed deep into Kahlee's white eyes, and she had no choice but to stare back into his bright purple irises. His pungent breath hit her face, forcing her to recoil slightly.

After what felt like an eternity, he finally released his grip.

"Very good. Yes, very good indeed. Hunters, you may stand down now." The man said as he turned back towards the building, limping as he went. The three lasers hovering over Bill's chest disappeared, and the Hunters retreated back into the base in a furrow of cloaks.

Bill took a step towards the strange man. "Now would be a good time to tell us who the hell you are." This prompted the Warlock to stop in his tracks.

"I suppose I should, shouldn't I?" he said, turning his head slightly back towards Bill.

"Seems only fair after all that crazy shit you just pulled." Dak added, his hand wrapped around his revolver's grip. Kahlee said nothing, she only massaged her right shoulder, still sore after being gripped by the man's prosthetic left hand. Thunder rolled behind them, letting them know the storm was moving closer to the mountains.

"You may call me Tevis, if you must. But names are not important at present. Do not bother to tell me yours, I do not care to know. Enough chit-chat. Come inside at once. We have much to discuss, Guardians." With that, Tevis resumed his plodding stride up the stone steps.

About halfway up, he spoke to them without stopping his climb or turning to face his guests.

"Oh, yes... Welcome to Peak 38."

For a moment after Tevis disappeared through the door the three Guardians remained where they stood. Kahlee took half a step towards Bill, but he and Dak stayed in place.

"Are we really going to trust this psychopath?" Dak muttered, his hand still gripping his weapon.

"We don't really have much of a choice." Bill whispered back, his eyes almost perfectly masking his unease.

Kahlee rotated her shoulder a bit. "I can only hope there's others inside who are a little more..."

"-Stable?" Val asked, popping to life next to her.

"Let's go with that, sure." Cee said, also appearing. "I would have used more colorful language, but yours works, too."

She chuckled, trying to shake off her fears. From inside the doors, Tevis' voice echoed out onto the makeshift landing pad.

"Dammit, Guardians! Hurry up! We do not have time for you to blather on about nothing outside!"

Bill sighed, gave his team a defeated look, and motioned for them to follow him inside. Without another word, they jogged towards the steps and up into the facility. Behind them, the metal doors creaked shut, giving them much-needed shelter from the advancing storm.

They walked down the hall side by side, bracing for whatever this strange place had in store for them.


	15. The Calm

**14: The Calm**

The interior of Peak 38 had not fared any better against the tests of time than its exterior. The hallway just beyond the main doors led to a small lobby, the walls of which were adorned with red paint, faded to almost nothing. What little furniture remained was splintered and weathered, far from inviting. Bill looked up towards the arched ceilings, trying to make out the mural painted upon it, to no avail. A great portion of it was obscured by mold and mildew built up over time.

The lobby walls narrowed into almost a point, funneling Bill and his friends into another hallway, this one inclined downward slightly. Tevis was already at the bottom of this ramp, tapping his foot impatiently, his expression one of impatience and frustration.

"Come, come, come! We do not have all night!" The old Guardian barked as the trio caught up to him. Bill tried to keep his face neutral, to avoid more angry tirades from their host. Behind Tevis, a gray stone wall blocked their passage. It appeared to be a dead end.

"This is it?" Dak asked. "This isn't much of a facility."

"For a class of Guardian so adept at finding the unfindable, you aren't very keen, are you, Hunter?" Tevis asked, a blue light surrounding him. Small bolts of lightning began to lance from his fingertips, enough to both light up the dead end, and to startle the Fireteam. Tevis reached out with one hand, placing it flat against a specific point on the wall, just off-center to the right. Arc energy crackled and danced across the rocks, then the wall began to lift from the bottom, until a clean, white lab was revealed behind it.

"This door responds to the Light of Guardians, for security purposes. Now, come inside, we have much to share with you." Tevis hobbled inside, followed by Kahlee, and Bill shortly afterwards. Dak hesitated for a moment.

"I didn't think they were real. But you're one of _them._ Aren't you, old man?" He said.

Kahlee stopped. "One of what?"

Bill leaned back against the doorway. "A Stormcaller. One of the rarest types of Guardians. I've never actually seen a Warlock who could command lightning. I've only heard the stories."

Tevis' jagged smile spread across his lips. "Well then, Titan... Today is your lucky day. For in this room, every Warlock you see has mastered the Stormtrance." He waved his hand across the lab, passing over seven other Warlocks, who were putting their tasks and conversations on hold, and looking up from their workstations to take note of their new guests. The room itself was a clean white and carried a sterile aesthetic. There were no windows, the only light provided from simple fixtures overhead. Computer terminals hummed and buzzed, contributing background noise to an otherwise quiet work environment. Bill noticed the three Hunters that greeted them from behind sniper scopes were now on a catwalk ring above everything else, and the main floor dipped down a short set of stairs into a circle that housed several of the researchers. At the back of the room, a giant white shard protruded through the floor, though it appeared to carry down past that point. The object rose five meters from the base of the floor, and it was over half as wide. The edges were jagged and black, scarring the white body of the shard.

"Is that what I think it is?" Bill asked, pointing toward the artifact.

"A shard of the Traveler, yes. Very astute, for a Titan." Tevis said, confirming Bill's inquiry as casually as one would discuss the weather or the results of a Sparrow Racing League heat. His response caught his visitors off-guard, and Tevis quickly realized it. He rolled his eyes and motioned to them.

"Out with it then, ask your questions," he said. "We are short on time, but we won't get anything done with you three sitting there, mouths agape." He sped up his "go ahead" motion.

"Okay, I'll start: how the hell did you get that?" Dak asked.

"Quite simple, really. We found it, we brought it here." Tevis responded.

Bill took a step forward. "Does the Vanguard know you have this?"

Tevis laughed. "Of course. This piece is the entire reason we have this facility. We brought this here under Zavala's orders. Would you rather an artifact of this size wind up in Fallen hands? Is there anything else you wish to know, or may we get on with things?"

Kahlee cocked her head. "Why?"

Tevis' head snapped in her direction. "Why what?"

"I mean, why are you studying it?"

The old Warlock sighed and massaged his temple. "For centuries, Guardians have been the immortal protectors of humanity, due in large part to the powers gifted to us by the Traveler. But none of us truly knows what deems a dead soul worthy to bear the title of Guardian. Not you, not me, not even the Speaker. So, we have dedicated our endless time to the study of just that."

"Just _what_?" Bill asked.

"Exactly what I just said, you fool! The power with which we chosen few are entrusted, that which every single pre-Golden Age religion promised to deliver unto their followers: _everlasting life._ " Tevis circled the three Guardians.

"It has been my belief that we do not truly deserve this power until we know exactly what determines who receives it, and how. We have been studying this particular Traveler shard for almost one hundred years, and we have yet to solve the mystery."

Bill took a step away from the Warlocks. "This is... a lot to process. I've... I've never even been this close to the Traveler's Light before." His eyes were fixed on the shard.

"So, if you haven't figured out what you wanted to, what _have_ you figured out? A hundred years is a long time to go without learning _anything._ " Dak asked, folding his arms across his chest.

The jagged grin returned to Tevis' face. "I am glad you asked. Approach the shard, please."

The trio remained motionless but exchanged glances at one another. Tevis rolled his eyes and waved his hand towards the relic.

"Guardians, I... promise you will not be harmed. In fact, you will come out of this stronger than ever."

Kahlee was the first to acquiesce to Tevis' instructions. She slowly walked up to the shard. As she did so, a low hum began to resonate from the artifact, and it reverberated throughout her body. She was slowly overcome with a soothing, warm feeling, as if she were approaching a roaring campfire on a cold autumn night. With that came a euphoria she had never felt before. Val had materialized beside her, and he had also begun to glow the closer they got. The low hum was now also emanating from the Ghost, and suddenly, a blinding white light, like what Kahlee was greeted with upon her first rebirth, engulfed the pair.

Bill, along with everyone else in room besides Tevis, shielded their eyes from the wave of Light. The old Warlock did not move, staring at the event in front of him as if he were watching live feeds from a rather boring Crucible match.

The white Light had now taken on a slight blue tinge, and small bolts of lightning danced along the floor around the perimeter of the shard. Bill started to move towards the wall of energy, but Tevis thrust his arm into Bill's path.

"Just watch, Titan."

After several moments, the blinding Light softened and faded, and Kahlee was left on the ground, hands on her knees. Bill strong armed his way past the elder Guardian and went to assist her, but a sudden discharge of lightning from her body stayed his hand. Her back straightened up, and Kahlee rose to her feet, floating several centimeters above the clean, white floor, seemingly held there by a cushion of electrical discharge. Lightning sparked across her fingertips, the same as Tevis had shown earlier. Her eyes were now a bright blue, and her expression was a mix of bewilderment and excitement.

"What have you done to her?" Bill asked.

"We have unlocked her true potential," Tevis said with a warm and friendly smile, and his demeanor was completely opposite to how he was behaving moments before. "Every new Guardian is taught to master the two most common types of Light known to their order, or 'class,' to use the laymen's term. But a rare few have within them the power to control and wield all three. Your friend is one such. And the two of you appear to possess the same gift."

Bill and Dak exchanged confused glances at each other. "This is a rare gift, yet one random Fireteam just _happens_ to be comprised of three Guardians who have it? And that Fireteam just so happens to be delivered to your doorstep? Something tells me you're not being completely honest with us." Dak asked.

"Do you really think it was pure luck that the three of you were sent here? Or further, that you were paired together by the same good fortune? No, Hunter... it was no accident that any of this came to pass. It is your destiny."

Dak turned to his friend. "Your instincts have always been good. Should we take the leap?"

Bill looked at Kahlee, who was back on her knees, still feeling weak from her ordeal. But she was marveling at her newfound gifts, and that was enough for Bill as he looked back to Dak and chuckled.

"Kind of hard to argue with destiny, right?" He said, taking a few steps past Kahlee and towards the shard. He held out his hand, placing it onto the smooth surface, noticing Dak's hand following shortly thereafter. Even through his padded and armored gloves, he could feel the warmth of the Light as his hand made contact. That warmth soon spread through his fingertips and up his right arm. As the bright Light enveloped him and Dak, the distant rumble of an explosion caught his ear, spoiling his feelings of elation.


	16. The Storm

**A/N: If anyone is still with me on this journey, I thank you for your support and patience. We're getting close to the ending, and I'm almost certain of the direction I want to go in from here, and once this is done, I'm gonna move on to a story that starts just when Destiny 2 kicks off, so here's hoping I get this shit sorted soon.**

 **15: The Storm**

Kahlee tried to get her feet back underneath her, but after her initial burst of power, her strength had left her as her body tried to adjust. She could barely see anything beyond the pocket of Light engulfing Bill and Dak, but she could see the other Warlocks in the room scrambling. Val was also on the ground, attempting to reboot. Through the blinding light, she could see his eye flicker on and off.

A firm mechanical grip enveloped her left arm, and she felt herself being pulled out of the lower ring into the main work area. Tevis had pulled her away, and left her propped up behind a desk, seemingly out of harm's way. She saw a rifle in his other hand, and his face was sullen.

"What's going on?" she asked, trying to keep herself conscious.

"My Hunters just picked up three Fallen skiffs on sensors. They're searching for this facility. Obviously, they had been tracking your ships and fell behind."

"I feel so weak… Can't stand up…"

"Your body was not quite ready to get such a shock all at once. Just take cover, you'll find your strength in time." Tevis put his hand on her shoulder before reaching into his robe and producing a worn and weathered pistol. He placed the rusty weapon in her hand, and slid out from behind the stone desk, his attention turning to the two Guardians still at the Shard.

The Light was fading from around the pair, and they both dropped to the ground. Being seasoned Guardians, they found their legs much faster than Kahlee. Bill stood up straight, his hands engulfed in flame. His eyes also had an orange glow behind them. Dak had a deep violet aura surrounding him.

Bill didn't take much longer to marvel at his gift, as he realized there was imminent danger outside. The Warlocks were hastily converting the lab area into a defense position, and the Hunters had their rifles trained on the door. A weapons locker had been opened, and rifles and heavy weapons were being distributed. Through the walls, he could hear thunder and rain, muffled by the thick layers of stone and metal, but he could also faintly make out the sounds of the Fallen ships circling.

"They're coming for the data your Ghost brought here! You mustn't let them take it! Come on, Guardians! Take cover!" Tevis yelled at them, flinging weapons towards the duo. Bill was given a white and red multi-barreled rifle, a Gatling gun with a tremendous fire rate. Dak received a semi-automatic Omolon rifle with a Dead Orbit insignia. The rifle was loaded with specialized ferrofluid that mimicked the micro-explosive rounds that Dak already employed in his revolver.

"How could they even know about it? The Winters didn't even know what was on that drive!" Dak yelled across the room, propping the rifle on an overturned lab table for stability.

"Besides, the Devils already attacked the City, why would they still need the Vanguard access codes?" Bill added.

"Access _what?!_ Is _that_ what Zavala told you was on that drive? No, you fools! Those files contain copies of our research data!" Tevis shook his head, his face almost purple in anger.

" _WHAT?!"_ Bill exclaimed. The sounds of the Fallen ships grew louder, and another explosion shook the base.

"The House of Winter stole those files from one of our teams on Venus, with the intention to sell it to this Devil and Dagger alliance! Kretik's House may be small, but if they've allied with Riksis, they must have ether to burn, now. You stole back the discs before the transaction, I'd wager."

"Why wouldn't Draksis keep that intel for himself? None of this makes sense." Dak said, making last-second adjustments to his rifle scope before yet another blast rocked the compound. From down the hall, they could hear the advance of Fallen Vandals, shrieking and gurgling battle cries in their alien tongue.

"It doesn't have to make sense, not now. Get ready for a fight, Guardians!" Tevis loaded a magazine into his rifle and trained it on the door. Bill searched his new weapon for a trigger, finding none on the strange rifle's rear grip. He quickly discovered that the foregrip on the side of the gun was also the trigger. Bracing the frame against a table next to Dak, he pulled the lever part of the way towards him, spinning up the multiple barrels.

"Cee, how many?" Bill asked, his Ghost floating off his left shoulder.

"Ten hostiles, coming in two-by-two. The pair at the front have shock blades, and I'm detecting explosives in hand." His "eye" flashed red multiple times. "Confirmed, they just set a breaching charge. A big one, too. Charge detonating in five, four…" Bill counted down the rest of the way in his head. At one, he pulled the trigger lever the rest of the way back.

The explosives went off, sending debris flying inward at the fourteen Guardians inside. Most of the Warlocks were not wearing helmets, and they ducked behind their cover, shielding their heads from the hot rock and metal peppering the lab. Bill, deafened by the blast and his own tunnel vision due to adrenaline, held his ground, the multi-barreled rifle spewing bullets at the doorway, broken and mangled by the door breach. As the Fallen filed their way into his kill zone, he raked the weapon back and forth, leveling the first wave of attackers. Cee reported more contacts spewing in from outside, and he held the trigger until he saw no more brass casings flying from the ejector port. He ducked behind the table, reaching down for one of the two remaining ammo magazines Tevis had left at his feet. Dak was calmly, yet rapidly putting shots on the doorway, his fire mixed in with the other friendly Guardians covering Bill's long reload.

 _One hundred shots until empty. I can do this faster next time,_ he thought as he placed the cylindrical magazine into the weapon. Swinging the muzzle back upwards and bracing it once more against the overturned desk, he resumed his suppressive fire. The Fallen just now entering the room were sent running for cover, but with the way the room was designed, and the way that Tevis and his Warlocks had set up their own defensive positions, there was little shelter for the attackers. The barrels of the gun glowed red, then orange, then white as the barrage continued, until eventually the weapon no longer fired. Bill hesitated for a moment, having not counted one hundred rounds fired. The overheat left a gap in their defenses, one the Fallen were quick to capitalize on. As Bill worked to cool the barrels, a volley of shock rounds struck him in the upper torso, and one round struck his head, and he fell backwards, the large gun flung from his grasp.

Kahlee watched as Bill went down, and cried out in horror, and she ran from the safety behind the desk to go to him. The noises of battle were muffled in her daze, and her vision clouded.

"Kahlee! Get into cover, I'll have him back in a few seconds!" Cee called out to her, a conical beam of Light projecting from his eye as he moved over Bill's dead body. She stumbled as she reached Bill's side, looking over the injuries as fire came down from all sides.

"What are you doing? Val is still rebooting, he can't help you in this state, and neither can I! Bill will be fine, get down!" Cee yelled at her, trying to nudge her away and to safety as he worked on Bill.

Before Kahlee could react, a large, alien howl boomed out from the doorway. Kretik himself marched into the room, heralding the arrival of a Fallen far larger and far more powerful. The ground shook as Riksis, the Kell of the Fallen House of Devils, appeared from the smoke in the entryway. The Guardians in the room opened fire on the Kell, but his shields absorbed the incoming barrage. He barked a command to Kretik, and Kretik scanned the room once or twice, before pointing towards Kahlee. Riksis growled and marched across the room towards the weakened Guardian.

"No!" Dak cried out, leaping towards Riksis with knife in hand, but Kretik pounced at the same time, catching Dak in mid-air and tackling him to the ground. Drawing a shock sword from his belt while holding down Dak with his other three hands, Kretik plunged the blade through Dak's shoulder, all the way to the hilt, until the sword was firmly embedded in the concrete floor, pinning Dak in place.

Riksis had finished his slow and concise walk across the room to where Kahlee lay helpless, having collapsed once more from exhaustion. She feebly reached for her Ghost, who was starting to come back online, and Riksis waited until the tiny robot was in her hand before reaching out towards her himself. Tevis threw himself in front of Kahlee, lightning crackling from his hands. Raising them up, he blasted the Devil Kell with electricity, causing the massive alien to reel for a moment. But, to Tevis' shock, the shields of his adversary held fast. Reaching out, Riksis grabbed Tevis by his mechanical left arm, and yanked the appendage free. The Warlock shrieked in pain as purple blood soaked his robes. Riksis struck the Awoken man in the skull with the prosthetic and tossed it aside, leaving the old man crumpled in a heap. As Tevis' Ghost materialized to heal his wounds, Riksis signaled towards it. Kretik lunged forward and grabbed the Ghost out of the air, crushing it slightly with his metal hand. Holding it up, the other Fallen jeered and howled, and Kretik tossed it towards his underlings, who swarmed over it like rabid dogs to a chunk of rotten meat.

Riksis turned his attention back to Kahlee, and he grabbed her by the throat, lifting her into the air. She felt consciousness fading away from her, and Val began to slip from her grasp. As the Ghost fell from her hand, Riksis caught it, and placed it in a pouch on his belt. Several Barons wearing Devils colors had rounded up the other Warlocks and were holding them and their Ghosts prisoner. The Hunters protecting the facility were nowhere to be found. Dak watched helpless and pinned as Riksis signaled for a withdrawal, wondering why he had been spared.

As the last of the Fallen retreated, he grasped the hilt of the sword, and pulled himself forward, the blade tearing what was left of his shoulder free. His left arm remained on the ground as he pulled himself to his feet with his right. He felt no pain, and he was thankful for that at the moment. Scanning the room, he saw nothing but devastation and death. Tevis had propped himself up, but he was in grave condition.

"Check… on your friend first, Guardian. It's too late… to do anything for me now…" Tevis said, his voice soft, and his words slurred from blood loss.

 _Bill!_ Dak spun on his heel, and saw Cee had reappeared, continuing his revival of the dead Titan. Vera had also begun treating the injuries Dak had sustained, but he shoved her aside for the moment, running to his friend's side. A wave of Light washed over Bill, and Dak heard a sharp breath over the radio as life found it's way back into the human. Sitting up, he yanked his helmet off, and looked Dak in the eye.

"How bad?" he asked. Dak motioned to his missing arm.

"Not good. Tevis isn't doing well, and…" he trailed off.

"Wait. Where's Kahlee?" Bill asked. Dak's eyes dimmed, and he broke the eye contact.

"We need to check on Tevis." Dak rose to his feet and jogged towards the dying Warlock. Bill got himself up and went to his side as well.

"Where's his Ghost?"

"Gone."

Tevis coughed, and blood ran down the side of his mouth. "Guardians… use the gift I gave you. Save your friend, stop the Daggers. And keep your Traveler safe…" The glow in the Awoken's eyes began to fade, and the ripples of Light that played across his skin dimmed as well.

"There's no light… they always said there would be a… how disappointing…" Tevis' head drooped forward, and he was gone.

"Dammit. Vera, get the _fuck_ off of me! It can wait!" Dak yelled in anger, taking a swing at his Ghost with his one good arm as she tried once more to heal his injuries.

"Right…" she responded, floating at a safe distance. Bill got into Dak's face.

"What can't wait is you telling me what the hell happened while I was out! And where the fuck is Kahlee?!"

Dak maintained his silence for a moment more, then his expression stiffened as much as an Exo could manage. "Taken. By Riksis."

"What?"

"He and Kretik showed up. They took Kahlee and the other Warlocks, but not before they killed Tevis."

Bill turned away, hands on his head. He lashed out and kicked a supply crate across the room, sending it into a wall and scattering the contents across the floor. He sank to his haunches, waves of failure washing over him. The sound of boots in the room caught his attention, and he drew a small pistol from an emergency holster and whipped around as he rose to his feet, now face-to-face with one of the facility's Hunters.

"And just where the hell where you when Kretik showed up?" Dak asked.

"Following orders. We need to leave. Now." The Hunter responded, turning towards the exit. "And you may want to hurry, the charges are going to go off any minute."

Bill and Dak looked at each other for a split second, then turned to run after the Hunter. As they reached the landing pad, a set of explosions rocked Peak 38, sending debris flying in every direction.

"And what was all that about?" Bill demanded.

"Our orders from Tevis were clear. In the event of his death, or a breach of this facility, or both, we were to destroy Peak 38 to preserve the data it held."

"Preserve? You just destroyed all of it!"

"Your Ghost is carrying all of the useful information. That's what the Fallen were after, and thankfully, they grabbed the wrong Ghost during the attack."

Bill stormed towards the Hunter. " _Thankfully?!_ They took our friend. No, our _sister._ I fail to see what I have to be thankful for!"

The Hunter held his ground. "I'm sorry about your comrade, I lost two of my own today, and you'd do well to remember that. But if the Fallen get their hands on this data, they'll be able to save themselves from death same as us. And they outnumber us exponentially. And that would be on your head, if that came to pass."

Bill clenched his fists. "They most likely took her back to the Dagger base. It's closer than the Cosmodrome. We need to report back to Zavala. And maybe, just maybe, he'll let us mount a rescue op." He walked to his ship without another word, but Dak quietly asked his fellow Hunter to fly Kahlee's ship back to the City with them.

Bill maintained his silence for the duration of the flight home, and as he saw the pillars of smoke rising from the quenched fires littering the City during their approach, the fire in his own belly raged on.

No matter what, he would not abandon Kahlee to the mercy of Kretik, for there was none to be found in the lair of the Daggers.


End file.
